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Webster 1913 Edition


Haruspicy

Ha-rus′pi-cy

(-pĭ-sy̆)
,
Noun.
The art or practices of haruspices. See
Aruspicy
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Haruspicy

HAR'USPICY

,
Noun.
Divination by the inspection of victims.

Definition 2024


haruspicy

haruspicy

English

Alternative forms

Noun

haruspicy (countable and uncountable, plural haruspicies)

  1. The study and divination by use of animal entrails, usually the victims of sacrifice.
    • 1807, Charles Buck, A Theological Dictionary, Volume 1, Whitehall, page 238:
      Different kinds of divination, which have passed for sciences, we have had: [] 6. Haruspicy, by inspecting the bowels of animals. []
    • 1825, Horace Smith, Gaieties and Gravities: A Series of Essays, Comic Tales, and Fugitive Vagaries, Volume II, H. Colburn, page 333:
      That our fates should be made dependent upon the stars, planets, and constellations, however preposterous a conceit, at least imparts a dignity to our nature by conjoining earth with Heaven: but that the doom of kings, empires, and individuals, should be regulated [] by the entrails of victims, as analysed by the butchers of Haruspicy [] is an evidence of stupid credulity that levels civilised man to the savage []

Synonyms