presage

See also: pressage, présage, and présagé

English

WOTD – 4 May 2016

Etymology

From Middle French presage, from Latin praesāgium.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛsɪdʒ/, /pɹɪˈseɪdʒ/
• Rhymes: -eɪdʒ
• Hyphenation: pre‧sage

Noun

presage (plural presages)

1. A warning of a future event; an omen.
2. An intuition of a future event; a presentiment.
   • 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, XXII:

     Glad was I when I reached the other bank. / Now for a better country. Vain presage!

Translations

warning; omen

• Catalan: presagi m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 预兆 (zh), 征兆 (zh)

• Dutch: voorteken (nl)
• Finnish: enne (fi)

• French: présage (fr) m
• Italian: presagio (it)
• Russian: предзнаменова́ние (ru) n (predznamenovánije)
• Spanish: presagio (es)

intuition; presentiment

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 预感 (zh)

• Dutch: voorgevoel (nl)

• Finnish: aavistus (fi)
• Russian: предчу́вствие (ru) n (predčúvstvije)
• Spanish: presentimiento (es) m, intuición (es) f

Verb

presage (third-person singular simple present presages, present participle presaging, simple past and past participle presaged)

1. (transitive) To predict or foretell something.
   • c. 1591–1595, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:

     , scene i (Q2 version):

     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 […]

   • 2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a second term, Obama will confront familiar headwinds”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     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.

2. (intransitive) To make a prediction.
3. (transitive) To have a presentiment of; to feel beforehand; to foreknow.

Synonyms

• foreshadow
• forespell
• portend

Translations

to predict or foretell something

• Dutch: voorspellen (nl), aankondigen (nl)

• Finnish: ennustaa (fi)
• Latin: ōminor

to make a prediction

• Finnish: ennustaa (fi)

to have a presentiment of

• Dutch: een voorgevoel hebben

• Finnish: aavistaa (fi), uumoilla (fi), ounastella (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} présager (fr)

Anagrams

• asperge, preages, sperage