ORACLE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Oracle

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/ˈɔrəkəl/ Listen

noun

Oracle n.

1.

The answer of a god, or some person reputed to be a god, to an inquiry respecting some affair or future event, as the success of an enterprise or battle. "Whatso'er she saith, for oracles must stand."

2.

Hence: The deity who was supposed to give the answer; also, the place where it was given. "The oracles are dumb; No voice or hideous hum Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving."

3.

The communications, revelations, or messages delivered by God to the prophets; also, the entire sacred Scriptures usually in the plural. "The first principles of the oracles of God."

4.

(Jewish Antiq.) The sanctuary, or Most Holy place in the temple; also, the temple itself. "Siloa's brook, that flow'd Fast by the oracle of God."

5.

One who communicates an oracle (1) or divine command; an angel; a prophet. "God hath now sent his living oracle Into the world to teach his final will."

6.

Any person reputed uncommonly wise; one whose decisions are regarded as of great authority; as, a literary oracle. "Oracles of mode." "The country rectors... thought him an oracle on points of learning."

7.

A wise pronouncement or decision considered as of great authority.

verb

Oracle v. i. (past & past part. oracled; pres. part. oracling) To utter oracles. (Obs.)

See images of 'Oracle'

Etymology of 'Oracle'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Oracle" Quotes from Famous Books

... day after to-morrow we begin our removal to a home which Jane has taken near to Miss Winter's in Suffolk. That she was able to find just what we wanted at a moment's notice encourages me in thinking that Providence is on our side, or, as your dear father used to say, that the oracle has spoken. In a week's time I hope to send news that we are settled. You are forbidden to come here before our departure, but will be invited to the new home as soon as possible. The ...

— Will Warburton • George Gissing

... principles was adopted amidst prolonged cheers, and the selection of electors approved without dissent. The happy combination of the two electors-at-large, William Cullen Bryant and James O. Putnam, evidenced the spirit of loyalty to Abraham Lincoln that inspired all participants. Bryant had been an oracle of the radical democracy for more than twenty years, and had stubbornly opposed Seward; Putnam, a Whig of the school of Clay and Webster, had, until recently, zealously supported Millard Fillmore and the American party. In its eagerness ...

— A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3 • DeAlva Stanwood Alexander

... the gods.[93] Every one also has rather marvelled at the somewhat lame and impotent conclusion of the play when Athene—herself in reality one of the most infamous of the Olympian deities—is brought on the stage to save the prestige of the oracle at Delphi and to explain away the altogether disreputable behaviour of the no less infamous Apollo. But no one before Verrall had thought of coupling together the free-thinking and the episode in the play. This is what Verrall did. Ion sees ...

— Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 • Evelyn Baring

... before, but would come to him on the first day of the year and give, some more, some less. He, after adding as much or more again, would return it, not only to the senators but to all the rest. I have also heard the story that on one day of the year, following some oracle or dream, he would assume the guise of a beggar and would accept money from those who passed. This, whether trustworthy or ...

— Dio's Rome, Vol. 4 • Cassius Dio

... appear trivial which could not either be evolved out of similar principles, by the same process, or at least brought under the same forms of thought, by perceived or imagined analogies? And so it was. For more than a century men continued to invoke the oracle of their own spirits, not only concerning its own forms and modes of being, but likewise concerning the laws of external nature. All attempts at philosophical explication were commenced by a mere effort of the understanding, as the power of abstraction; or by the imagination, transferring ...

— Hints towards the formation of a more comprehensive theory of life. • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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