presage
verbEtymology From Middle English presage, from Latin praesāgium.
1
To predict or foretell something.
- If I may truſt the flattering truth of ſleepe, / My dreames preſage ſome ioyfull newes at hand : / My boſomes L. ſits lightly in his throne : / And all this day an vnaccuſtom’d ſpirit, / Lifts me aboue the ground with cheatfull thoughts […](Q2 version)
- That brief moment after the election four years ago, when many Americans thought Mr. Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past.2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a second term, Obama will confront familiar headwinds”, in The New York Times:
2
To make a prediction.
3
To have a presentiment of; to feel beforehand; to foreknow.
- Synonyms
- foreshadow, forespell, portend
- Derived terms
- presagement, presager, presagingly, unpresaged, unpresaging