ORACLE • DICTIONARY ONE.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

... favourite. Harriet, though beautiful, egotistical, and self-satisfied, was not quite weak enough for him. She had some genuine self-respect amidst much false pride, and if she did not talk like an oracle, neither would she babble like one crazy; she would not permit herself to be treated quite as a doll, a child, a plaything; she expected to be ...

— Shirley • Charlotte Bronte

... beautiful than my father's admiration and emotion when listening to his uncle's rapt passages, or than his childlike faith in my father's exegetical prowess. He used to have a list of difficult passages ready for "my nephew," and the moment the oracle gave a decision, the old man asked him to repeat it, and then took a permanent note of it, and would assuredly preach it some day with his own proper unction and power. One story of him I must give; my father, who heard ...

— Spare Hours • John Brown

... stretch of road to prevent their straying. Then the others would lie in the shade or sun themselves on the bank opposite the homestead, sleeping, smoking, reading or playing cards. Scarcely ever did the oracle fail to work. The door of the house would open and a fair maid appear, anon, a mother and a sister. The first would come tripping down the path to ...

— The Tale of a Trooper • Clutha N. Mackenzie

... Sandy Ericson had been regarded as a sort of chief. When any ship touched at the port it was his genial face that was first seen, and when they passed on their long voyages to distant lands it was he who gave the last word of farewell. Among the women he had been esteemed as an oracle, to whom they went for comfort in stormy weather when in doubt as to the fate of lovers or husbands at the fishing; and even the young children had learned to know his heavy stride, and to run into the street when he approached, ...

— The Pilots of Pomona • Robert Leighton

... Laurentine fields, and of no mean birth. Let me unfold this hard saying in all sincerity: and do thou drink it into thy soul. I might not ally my daughter to any of her old wooers; such was the universal oracle of gods and men. Overborne by love for thee, overborne by kinship of blood and my weeping wife's complaint, I broke all fetters, I severed the maiden from her promised husband, I took up unrighteous ...

— The Aeneid of Virgil • Virgil

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