Dictionary

auspicate en · ADJ

Etymology

From Latin auspicatus, past participle of auspicari "to take auspices", from auspex "bird seer", "augur", a contraction of avispex; avis "bird" + specere, spicere, "to view".

Meanings

1. Auspicious.
   • Thalaßto was used at Bridals or Weddings in Rome, as an auspicate or lucky word; like this among the Greeks , Hymen O Hymenae , Hymen , &c.. 1670, Thomas Blount, Glossographia, page 644:
   • For by reason that the whole day beside was ominous and dismall, there was no time thereof thought more auspicate and convenient than it, to enter upon the Empire; 1606, Caius Suetonius Tranquillus, The Historie of Twelve Cæsars, Emperours of Rome, page 182:
   • In a fast running world, such as the one in which we are all living, the tendency and the will to speed it up to reach an auspicate “time 0” between two actions (send a message/receive an answer, leave home/reach the office, etc.) is undeniable. 2015, I. Apostol, J. Mamasakhlisi, D. Subotta, Engaging the Public to Fight the Consequences of Terrorism, page 14:
   • Henry, by Mary Queen of Scots, had Issue James the Sixth , King of Brittain , by the propitious Grace of the Eternal God, born in a most auspicate and lucky Hour, to knit and unite in one Body of an Empire, the whole Island of Brittain, divided as well in it self, as it was heretofore from the rest of the World, and to lay a most sure Foundation of an everlasting Security, for our Heirs and the Posterity. 1695, William Camden, A Second Edition of Camden's Description of Scotland, page 94:
   • For mee thinks it is not an auspicate beginning of a feast, nor agreeable to amity and good fellowship, to snatch or lurch one from another , to have many hands in a dish at once, to crosse one another with the elbow, and to bee with hand or arme in his fellows way, striving a vie who should be more nimble with his fingers; 1657, Philemon Holland, The Philosophie, Commonly Called, the Morals, Written by the Learned Philosopher Plutarch of Chæronea, page 557:

Forms

Deriveds

inauspicate

auspicate en · VERB

Etymology

From Latin auspicatus, past participle of auspicari "to take auspices", from auspex "bird seer", "augur", a contraction of avispex; avis "bird" + specere, spicere, "to view".

Meanings

1. (transitive) To foreshow; to foretoken.
2. (transitive) To give a favorable turn to in commencing; to inaugurate; -- a sense derived from the Roman practice of taking the auspicium, or inspection of birds, before undertaking any important business.

Forms