oneiromancy

Noun

oneiromancy (countable and uncountable, plural oneiromancies)

1. (uncountable, divination) Divination by the interpretation of dreams.
   • The absence of oneiromancy among the divinatory techniques is justified by the fact that it occupies in Islam a higher place than that of divination in the sphere of religious inspiration.1979, T. Fahd, “KIHĀNA”, in C[lifford] E[dmund] Bosworth, E[meri J.] van Donzel, B[ernard] Lewis, Ch[arles] Pellat, editors, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edition, volume V, Leiden: E. J. Brill...
   • 7. Did Aristotle's attitude to oneiromancy change? / In the foregoing sections we sketched the consistent and lucid oneirology which various indirect sources attribute to Aristotle.1989, A[braham] P. Bos, “Manteia in Aristotle”, in Cosmic and Meta-cosmic Theology in Aristotle’s Lost Dialogues (Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History; 16), →ISBN, page 164
2. (broadly, uncountable) The interpretation of dreams.
   • The general tenor of ideas in dreaming is the same as that with which the mind is occupied awake; and thus may be revealed, in dreams, the state of the mind, the secret hopes and wishes, the profoundly hidden thought, and often the circumstances of the dreamer. The knowledge of this fact, and its...1832, Samuel Jackson, “Of Sleep and Dreams”, in The Principles of Medicine, Founded on the Structure and Functions of the Animal Organism, Philadelphia, Pa.: Carey & Lea, →OCLC, § 2 (Of Dreams), page...

   Synonyms:

   oneirocriticism, oneirology, oneiroscopy

3. (countable, divination) An act of such divination or dream-interpretation.
   • Finding that I could produce obedience to my silent will in somnambulists to the extent of inducing some to lift the hand to either cheek— […] I resolved to try if I could influence some of my patients to obey me in the performance of a train of actions. This was education, and this I take it...1847 October, John Ashburner, “IV. On the Silent Influence of the Will. By Dr. Ashburner. Communicated in a Letter to Dr. [John] Elliotson.”, in The Zoist: A Journal of Cerebral Physiology &...
   • […] Minerva must never be confused with Santa Maria, for all that they occupy the same discursive space, for all that they must occupy the same position in [Sigmund] Freud's account of the mind, any more than The Interpretation of Dreams can be confused with oneiromancies and dream-books of the...1997, Jacques Lezra, “The Ontology of the Letter in Descartes’s Second Meditation”, in Unspeakable Subjects: The Genealogy of the Event in Early Modern Europe, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University...