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scry

[skrahy]
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verb (used without object), scried, scry·ing.
  1. to use divination to discover hidden knowledge or future events, especially by means of a crystal ball.
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Origin of scry

aphetic shortening of descry
Related formsscry·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for scrying

Historical Examples

  • The antiquity and world-wide diffusion of scrying, in one form or other, interests the student of human nature.

    Cock Lane and Common-Sense

    Andrew Lang

  • As to ‘scrying’ the doctor thought it could be done in ‘mesmerised water,’ water bewitched.

  • The foregoing short treatise will gain some practical value by a statement of the conditions most suitable for scrying.

    Second Sight

    Sepharial

British Dictionary definitions for scrying

scry

verb scries, scrying or scried
  1. (intr) to divine, esp by crystal gazing
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Word Origin

C16: from descry
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for scrying

scry

v.

"to see images in a crystal, water, etc., which reveal the past or forebode the future," 1520s, a shortening of descry (v.1). Related: Scried; scrying; scryer.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper