| 释义 |
oraculous, a.|ɒˈrækjʊləs|
Now rare or Obs.
[f. L. type *ōrāculōs-us, f. ōrācul-um: cf. obs. F. oraculeux (Cotgr. and Godef.), and miraculous.]
Of the nature of, or pertaining to, an oracle. (Formerly common; now superseded by oracular.)
1. = oracular 1.
1610Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 596 This [counting the sands] the oraculous device of Delpho's ascribed to him⁓selfe. a1658Cleveland Answ. Pamph. (1677) 130 Reason..why Jupiter, when he was most Oraculous, was called Jupiter Ammon. 1660N. Ingelo Bentiv. & Ur. ii. (1682) Pref., Where the Oraculous Tripos stands. 1671Milton P.R. iii. 14 Urim and Thummim, those oraculous gems On Aaron's breast. 1776Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad 179 When..Orac'lous Argo sail'd from wondering Greece. 1849tr. Ct. A. Hamilton's Fairy T. 174 [He] soon left the oraculous wood a full league behind him.
†2. = oracular 2. Obs.
1612Drayton Poly-olb. x. 162 That what he spake, was held to be oraculous So true his writings were. 1647Ward Simp. Cobler 59 Is no Bishop no King, such an oraculous Truth? 1751Johnson Rambler No. 172 ⁋10 He..expects that..his opinion be received as decisive and oraculous.
†b. = oracular 2 b. Obs.
1625Bacon Ess., Simulation (Arb.) 509 As for Equiuocations, or Oraculous Speeches, they cannot hold out long. a1720Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Wks. (1753) II. 125 To guess..what the meaning of this oraculous clause should be.
3. = oracular 3.
1617Middleton & Rowley Fair Quarrel ii. ii, Like a conjuror, One of our fine oraculous wizards. 1647Crashaw Poems 117 The oraculous doctors' mystic bills, Certain hard words made into pills. 1725Pope Odyss. iv. 519 The oraculous seer [Proteus] frequents the Pharian coast. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 61 ⁋4 He grows on a sudden oraculous and infallible. 1818T. L. Peacock Nightmare Abbey xii, He..asked Mr. Flosky, whom he looked up to as a most oraculous personage, whether any story of any ghost..was entitled to any degree of belief.
†4. = oracular 4. Obs.
1615G. Sandys Trav. 61 Deliuer him in writing the state of the question; who in writing briefly returnes his oraculous answer. 1624Heywood Gunaik. ii. 99 Who..sung many oraculous cautions to the people of Sparta, yet could they not predict their owne disaster. 1624Gataker Transubst. 197 As the oraculous predictions of the Prophets and expresse promises of God himselfe describe it.
b. (With allusion to oracle n. 5.)
1626Donne Serm. lxxxviii. 793 One whose books are dedicated to the Pope..and so hath had an oraculous refining by an allowance oraculo vivæ vocis.
Hence oˈraculously adv., by or in manner of an oracle; as if by an oracle; oracularly; oˈraculousness, oracularity.
1632Brome North. Lasse i. ii. Wks. 1873 III. 6 My Cosins counsel, which hath ever been oraculously good. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. vi. 21 The testimonies of Antiquity and such as passe oraculously amongst us. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 22 The branching Beech and vocal Oke, Where Jove of Old Oraculously spoke. 1755Johnson Oraculous.—Oraculousness, the state of being oracular. |