scry

English

Alternative forms

• skry

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skɹaɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ

Etymology 1

From Middle English scrien, scryen, a shortened form of Middle English ascrien, from Old French escrier (“to cry out”). Influenced by Middle English descrien (“to descry”).

Verb

scry (third-person singular simple present scries, present participle scrying, simple past and past participle scried)

1. To magically or supernaturally look into or (as an entertainer) predict (the future), using crystal balls or other objects.

   The fortune teller claimed she could scry [into] the future.

2. (more broadly, fantasy, video games) To use magical means to see or look into (something that is happening outside one's sight, e.g. inside a building or far away, or in the distant past, or future, etc).
   • 2014 April 22, Jeff Howard, Game Magic: A Designer's Guide to Magic Systems in Theory and Practice, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 149:

     Scrying spells can simply toggle the state of hidden objects to the revealed state, […]

   • 2014 May 6, Jean Johnson, The Guild, Penguin, →ISBN, page 239:

     […] with the loss of Mekha, the shields and wardings on the temple had weakened. That meant Alonnen could now scry inside directly, albeit with a fuzzy view and no real hope of clear sound. On hearing that, Guardian-apprentice Pelai had suggested he could send in a whole series of clever, Mendhite-style scrying nodes.

   • 2020 January 26, Stephanie Flint, The Restless Sands of Neel, Infinitas Publishing, page 66:

     […] to get the kid's family back, they needed a plan. “You three keep an eye out. I'm going to scry inside that house.” “You sure that's a good idea?” Naleni asked. “If he's actually a string mage, no. He might sense [it].”

   • 2023 October 31, Garrett Boatman, The Clocks of Midnight, Crossroad Press:

     He glanced at the silver bowl on the table near the window. She had explained its purpose, how it was used to scry what was and what might be. He feared her device more than his for what was more frightening than an uncertain future? Her gaze followed his. She squeezed his hand and looked deeply into his eyes.

3. (obsolete) To descry; to see.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 352:

     […] two ſhepheards curres, had ſcryde
     A rauenous Wolfe amongſt the ſcattered flockes.

Derived terms

• scryer
• scrying

Translations

predict the future using crystal balls or other objects

• Bulgarian: гадая с кристал (gadaja s kristal)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: katsoa kristallipallosta
• Portuguese: prever (pt), antever (pt), futurar (pt)
• Spanish: agorar (es), augurar (es), vaticinar (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 占術 (せんじゅつ, senjutsu)
• Portuguese: ^{(please verify)} ver (pt), anunciar (pt), proclamar (pt)

Etymology 2

From Middle English ascry, ascrie, escrie, from Anglo-Norman ascri, from Old French escri.

Noun

scry (plural scries)

1. (obsolete) A cry or shout.
2. A flock of wildfowl.

Verb

scry (third-person singular simple present scries, present participle scrying, simple past and past participle scried)

1. (obsolete) To proclaim.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “scry”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• Cyrs