auspicate

English

Etymology

From Latin auspicatus, past participle of auspicari "to take auspices", from auspex "bird seer", "augur", a contraction of avispex; avis "bird" + specere, spicere, "to view".

Verb

auspicate (third-person singular simple present auspicates, present participle auspicating, simple past and past participle auspicated)

1. (transitive) To foreshow; to foretoken.
2. (transitive) To give a favorable turn to in commencing; to inaugurate; -- a sense derived from the Roman practice of taking the auspicium, or inspection of birds, before undertaking any important business.

Adjective

auspicate (comparative more auspicate, superlative most auspicate)

1. Auspicious.
   • 1606, Caius Suetonius Tranquillus, The Historie of Twelve Cæsars, Emperours of Rome, page 182:

     For by reason that the whole day beside was ominous and dismall, there was no time thereof thought more auspicate and convenient than it, to enter upon the Empire;

   • 1657, Philemon Holland, The Philosophie, Commonly Called, the Morals, Written by the Learned Philosopher Plutarch of Chæronea, page 557:

     For mee thinks it is not an auspicate beginning of a feast, nor agreeable to amity and good fellowship, to snatch or lurch one from another , to have many hands in a dish at once, to crosse one another with the elbow, and to bee with hand or arme in his fellows way, striving a vie who should be more nimble with his fingers;

   • 1670, Thomas Blount, Glossographia, page 644:

     Thalaßto was used at Bridals or Weddings in Rome, as an auspicate or lucky word; like this among the Greeks , Hymen O Hymenae , Hymen , &c..

   • 1695, William Camden, A Second Edition of Camden's Description of Scotland, page 94:

     Henry, by Mary Queen of Scots, had Issue James the Sixth , King of Brittain , by the propitious Grace of the Eternal God, born in a most auspicate and lucky Hour, to knit and unite in one Body of an Empire, the whole Island of Brittain, divided as well in it self, as it was heretofore from the rest of the World, and to lay a most sure Foundation of an everlasting Security, for our Heirs and the Posterity.

   • 2015, I. Apostol, J. Mamasakhlisi, D. Subotta, Engaging the Public to Fight the Consequences of Terrorism, page 14:

     In a fast running world, such as the one in which we are all living, the tendency and the will to speed it up to reach an auspicate “time 0” between two actions (send a message/receive an answer, leave home/reach the office, etc.) is undeniable.

Derived terms

• inauspicate

 

References

• “auspicate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

auspicate

1. inflection of auspicare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

auspicate f pl

1. feminine plural of auspicato

Latin

Adjective

auspicāte

1. vocative masculine singular of auspicātus