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Showing results for spae. Search instead for spaed.

spae

American  
[spey] / speɪ /

verb (used with object)

Chiefly Scot.
spaed, spaeing
  1. to prophesy; foretell; predict.


spae British  
/ speɪ /

verb

  1. to foretell (the future)

"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

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of spae

1250–1300; Middle English span < Old Norse spā

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Thy mother's gone abroad to spae, Her kindly milk thou shalt enjoy When home she comes at close of day.

From Romano Lavo-Lil: word book of the Romany; or, English Gypsy language by Borrow, George Henry

"Ay, but, Meg, we shall not want your assistance, for here's a student from Oxford that kens much better than you how to spae its fortune—he does it by the stars."

From Guy Mannering by Scott, Walter, Sir

Gie’s your loof, hinny, and let Auld Merren spae it to ye bonny.”

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 11 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis

She has keeked in the glass at Hallow-een A better chance to spae.

From New Collected Rhymes by Lang, Andrew

Mother! mother! do not spae sorrow to your own child.

From A Reconstructed Marriage by Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston

The death of woe, spaed long ago,    They’ll wreak on him now, I reckon.

From The Songs of Ranild by Wise, Thomas James

I see a heron from the marsh go sailing in the sky, The purple moor is like a dream, a star is twinkling clear— Perhaps the meeting that she spaed is drawing very near!

From Old Spookses' Pass, Malcolm's Katie, and other poems by Crawford, Isabella Valancy

“When I was but a little child,    To me ’twas spaed that a knight should come From foreign land, should Allevod slay,    And to England’s realm should bear me home. p.

From Ermeline a ballad by Borrow, George Henry

I know the old wife spaed me true, for did she not fore-tell I'd break a ring with Ronald Grey beside the Hidden Well?

From Old Spookses' Pass, Malcolm's Katie, and other poems by Crawford, Isabella Valancy

It was common for coy damsels and staid matrons to wend their way to Lizzie's cot about twilight, to have their fortunes spaed.

From The Mysteries of All Nations Rise and Progress of Superstition, Laws Against and Trials of Witches, Ancient and Modern Delusions Together With Strange Customs, Fables, and Tales by Grant, James, archaeologist

For the first time he spoke of the weird-wife's spaeing.

From The Path of the King by Buchan, John

"I think nae mair on't, man—sir, I mean, for ye proved yoursel' a gentleman to me afore—than I do now in spaeing twins to your wife at her next doun-lying."

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 21 by Leighton, Alexander

Olaf fell a-longing to test the spaeing of this man.

From Olaf the Glorious A Story of the Viking Age by Leighton, Robert

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