auspicate | Word of the Day

January 01, 2019 auspicate [aw-spi-keyt] verb 1. to initiate with ceremonies calculated to ensure good luck; inaugurate. ways-to-say Top 10 Acronyms That Will Make Your Life Easier video We Asked People To Translate These Emojis Into English WORD OF THE DAY auspicate continued... QUOTES He was soon in great request to deliver addresses and auspicate new ventures … -- , "In Memoriam: Edward Thring," The Cambridge Review, November 2, 1887 ORIGIN Romans were addicted to religion, law, and the military (not always sharply differentiated), and no public business could be conducted without first taking the auspices. The basic Latin word is auspex (stem auspic-), literally "bird watcher." The syllable au- is a reduced form of avi-, the stem of the Latin noun avis "bird"; the suffix -spex means "one who watches or inspects," a derivative of the verb specere "to observe, watch" (which has many derivatives in English, e.g., expect, inspect, suspect, etc.). The Latin derivative noun auspicium "bird watching" also applied to other forms of divination, e.g., ex caelō, i.e., observing thunder and lightning; ex quadrupedibus, observing the behavior of four-footed animals, e.g. a wolf eating grass; ex dīrīs from observing dreadful, uncanny, or dire signs. There were other forms of auspices too silly to mention, but when the results of public elections were at stake or there was an important, controversial bill being debated in the Senate, why surely the gods had to approve (or not). Auspicate comes from the Latin past participle auspicātus, a derivative of the verb auspicārī "to take the auspices." Auspicate entered English in the early 17th century. MORE FOR YOU 1 Haiku Shows Poetry Doesn't Need To Be Complicated These examples of haiku show that the most beautiful poetry may be the simplest. 2 This Week's Word of the Day Quiz Is A Real Humdinger Are you a limber linguaphile? Find out with this week's Word of the Day Quiz. If the quiz doesn't display, please try opening in the Chrome browser. Interested in Words of the Day from the past? Check out this one that we brought to life …   Tell us your favorite word from this week below (and share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter)! 3 Here's This Week's Quiz, You Luculent Duck Don't let your lardy-dardy party make you tardy to this week's Word of the Day Quiz. 4 Recite These Drunken Quotes At Your Next Happy Hour From wine to whiskey, these authors have something to say about their love of booze. 5 The Words You Need For Every Decade Of Your Life When we're young, we desperately want to be grown up. Then once we realize we're old, we start to spend too much time thinking about ways to turn back the clock. Why can't we just be satisfied with where we are? These words should help clarify that feeling ... © 2018 Dictionary.com, LLC. ABOUT CONTACT You are subscribed to the Word of the Day as: matzom229@gmail.com Subscriber since: September 06, 2017 Unsubscribe Dictionary.com, LLC. 555 12th Street Suite 500 Oakland CA 94607 Manage your subscription Terms & Privacy