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Webster 1913 Edition


Alectryomancy

A-lec′try-o-manˊcy

,
Noun.
[Gr. [GREEK] cock +
-mancy
.]
Divination by means of a cock and grains of corn placed on the letters of the alphabet, the letters being put together in the order in which the grains were eaten.
Amer. Cyc.

Webster 1828 Edition


Alectryomancy

ALECTRYOM'ANCY

,
Noun.
[Gr. a cock and divination.]
An ancient practice of foretelling events by means of a cock. The twenty four letters were laid on the ground, and a grain of corn on each; a cock was then permitted to pick up the grains, and the letters under the grains selected, being formed into words, were supposed to foretell the event desired.

Definition 2024


alectryomancy

alectryomancy

English

Alternative forms

Noun

alectryomancy (uncountable)

  1. A form of divination in which the diviner observes a bird or birds (preferably the white rooster or cockerel) pecking at grain that the diviner has scattered on the ground.
    • "Alectromancy, by Cooks [sic] or Pullen..." -- The Magastromancer xix, Gaule, 1652

Translations

References

  • alectryomancy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams