ORACLE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • 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

... quarrel between Ulysses and Achilles, and the fierce words that they heaped on one another as they sat together at a banquet. But Agamemnon was glad when he heard his chieftains quarrelling with one another, for Apollo had foretold him this at Pytho when he crossed the stone floor to consult the oracle. Here was the beginning of the evil that by the will of Jove fell both ...

— The Odyssey • Homer

... laugh of derision. "No more of your homily, reverend oracle," said the sergeant; "I have an excellent recipe for short sermons here; utter another word and you shall have it!" The troopers laughed again, and the sergeant, as he spoke, held his pistol in the ...

— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 2 - Historical, Traditional, and Imaginative • Alexander Leighton

... quite sure," said I,—"quite sure? 'Woe to him,' says the oracle, 'who goes to the pork-barrel before the moment of ...

— The Man Without a Country and Other Tales • Edward E. Hale

... Saturn, under the appellation of Ouranus, or Heaven; there the impious Titans warred with the sky; there Jupiter was born and nursed; there was the celebrated shrine of Ammon, dedicated to Theban Jove, which the Greeks reverenced more highly than the Delphic Oracle; there was the birth-place and oracle of Minerva; and there, Atlas supported both the heavens and the ...

— An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans • Lydia Maria Child

... a maze as e'er men trod; And there is in this business more than Nature Was ever conduct of:[463-48] some oracle Must rectify ...

— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 8 • Charles H. Sylvester

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