| 释义 |
soothsaying, (vbl.) n.|ˈsuːθˌseɪɪŋ|
Also 6 soythsayenge, 6–8 southsaying.
[f. sooth n. or a. + saying (vbl.) n.1]
1. The practice of foretelling the future or the course of future events; prediction, prognostication.
1535Coverdale Ecclus. xxxiv. 5 Soythsayenge, witchcraft, sorcery, and dreaminge is but vanyte. a1591H. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 412 He used soothsaying and divination. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. 652 Wonderfull skilfull in Sooth-saying by the Inspection of Beasts inwards. 1652–62Heylin Cosmogr. iii. (1682) 21 Famous for South⁓saying, and accounted the first Interpreters of dreams. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. iii. (1840) 61 If the wise men..did not daily produce some new discoveries, it was evident the price and rate of southsaying would come down to nothing. 1850Maurice Mor. & Met. Philos. (ed. 2) 8 They practise magic and soothsaying: they are the advisers of the king. 1906J. Orr Problem of O.T. xii. 454 Such a view puts prophecy on a level with ‘soothsaying’.
2. An instance of this; a prediction or prophecy.
1535Coverdale Micah v. 12 All witchcraftes will I rote out of thyne hande, there shall no mo soythsayenges be within the. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xix. 134 The art magick, and all other sorts of southsayings. 1629Gaule Holy Madn. 120 At length [he] is content to yield to others Sooth-sayings before the Testimony of his owne Conscience. 1653Holcroft Procopius, Pers. War i. 30 Hearkning to impious South-sayings, vainly foretelling to him the Imperiall dignity. 1864Swinburne Atalanta 2009 Also for visions that were, And soothsayings spoken in sleep.
So ˈsoothˌsaying ppl. a., that acts the part of soothsayer; of the nature of, or characterized by, soothsaying. Now rare.
1550W. Lynne Carion's Cron. 24 Sibylla..signifieth..a prophetisse or southsayenge woman. 1634Milton Comus 874 By scaly Tritons winding shell, And old sooth-saying Glaucus spell. 1652Gaule Magastrom. 280 It was a soothsaying divination that provoked to doe the deed. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. iv. (1840) 114 How much were it to be wished, that some of our southsaying wits, who are neither wise men or southsayers [etc.]. 1911W. W. Fowler Relig. Exper. Rom. People xiii. 296 We hear..a great deal of wandering soothsayers, soothsaying families, and oracles. |