augury

Noun

augury (countable and uncountable, plural auguries)

1. A divination based on the appearance and behaviour of animals.
2. (broadly) An omen or prediction; a foreboding; a prophecy.
   • In Wordsworth's first preludings there is but a dim foreboding of the creator of an era. From Southey's early poems, a safer augury might have been drawn.1850, James Russell Lowell, The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe/Volume 1/Edgar A. Poe
   • No augury could be hopefuller. The Fates must indeed be hard, the Ordeal severe, the Destiny dark, that could destroy so bright a Spring!1859, George Meredith, chapter 15, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC
3. An event that is experienced as indicating important things to come.
   • Evidently he did not mean to be a mere figurehead, but to carry on the old tradition of Wilsthorpe's; and that was considered to be a good thing in itself and an augury for future prosperity.1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 2, in Well Tackled!