#506. Oblivion.—N. oblivion, obliviousness, lethe; forgetfulness &c. adj.; amnesia; obliteration &c. 552 of, insensibility &c. 823 to the past. short memory, treacherous memory, poor memory, loose memory, slippery memory, failing memory; decay of memory, failure of memory, lapse of memory; waters of Lethe, waters of oblivion. amnesty, general pardon. [deliberate or unconscious forgetting] repressed memory. V. forget; be forgetful &c. adj.; fall into oblivion, sink into oblivion; have a short memory &c. n., have no head. forget one's own name, have on the tip of one's tongue, come in one ear and go out the other. slip memory, escape memory, fade from memory, die away from the memory; lose, lose sight of. fail to recall, not be able to recall. [cause oneself to forget: transitive] unlearn; efface &c. 552, discharge from the memory; consign to oblivion, consign to the tomb of the Capulets; think no more of &c. (turn the attention from) 458; cast behind one's back, wean one's thoughts from; let bygones be bygones &c.(forgive) 918. Adj. forgotten &c. v.; unremembered, past recollection, bygone, out of mind; buried in oblivion, sunk in oblivion; clean forgotten; gone out of one's head, gone out of one's recollection. forgetful, oblivious, mindless, Lethean; insensible &c. 823 to the past; heedless. Phr. non mi ricordo[It]; the memory failing, the memory deserting one, being at (or in) fault.
2. To the Future
#507. Expectation.—N. expectation, expectance, expectancy; anticipation, reckoning, calculation; foresight &c. 510. contemplation, prospection[obs3], lookout; prospect, perspective, horizon, vista; destiny &c. 152. suspense, waiting, abeyance; curiosity &c. 455; anxious expectation, ardent expectation, eager expectation, breathless expectation, sanguine expectation; torment of Tantalus. hope &c. 858; trust &c. (belief) 484; auspices &c. (prediction) 511; assurance, confidence, presumption, reliance. V. expect; look for, look out for, look forward to; hope for; anticipate; have in prospect, have in contemplation; keep in view; contemplate, promise oneself; not wonder &c. 870 at, not wonder if. wait for, tarry for, lie in wait for, watch for, bargain for; keep a good lookout for, keep a sharp lookout for; await; stand at "attention," abide, bide one's time, watch. foresee &c. 510; prepare for &c. 673; forestall &c. (be early) 132; count upon &c. (believe in) 484; think likely &c. (probability) 472. lead one to expect &c. (predict) 511; have in store for &c. (destiny) 152. prick up one's ears, hold one's breath. Adj. expectant; expecting &c. v.; in expectation &c. n.; on the watch &c. (vigilant) 459; open-eyed, open-mouthed, in wide-eyed anticipation; agape, gaping, all agog; on tenterhooks, on tiptoe, on the tiptoe of expectation; aux aguets[obs3]; ready; curious &c. 455; looking forward to. expected &c. v.; long expected, foreseen; in prospect &c. n.; prospective; in one's eye, in one's view, in the horizon, on the horizon, just over the horizon, just around the corner, around the corner; impending &c. (destiny) 152. Adv. on the watch &c. adj.; with breathless expectation &c. n.; with bated breath, with rapt anticipation; arrectis auribus[Lat]. Phr. we shall see; nous verrons[Fr]; "expectation whirls me round" [Troilus and Cressida]; the light at the end of the tunnel.
#508. Inexpectation.—N. inexpectation[obs3], non-expectation; false expectation &c. (disappointment) 509; miscalculation &c. 481. surprise, sudden burst, thunderclap, blow, shock, start; bolt out of the blue; wonder &c. 870; eye opener. unpleasant surprise, pleasant surprise. V. not expect &c. 507; be taken by surprise; start; miscalculate &c. 481; not bargain for; come upon, fall upon. be unexpected &c. adj.; come unawares &c. adv.; turn up, pop, drop from the clouds; come upon one, burst upon one, flash upon one, bounce upon one, steal upon one, creep upon one; come like a thunder clap, burst like a thunderclap, thunder bolt; take by surprise, catch by surprise, catch unawares, catch napping; yach [obs3][S. Africa]. pounce upon, spring a mine upon. surprise, startle, take aback, electrify, stun, stagger, take away one's breath, throw off one's guard; astonish, dumbfound &c. (strike with wonder) 870. Adj. nonexpectant[obs3]; surprised &c. v.; unwarned, unaware; off one's guard; inattentive 458. unexpected, unanticipated, unpredicted[obs3], unlooked for, unforeseen, unhoped for; dropped from the clouds; beyond expectation, contrary to expectation, against expectation, against all expectation; out of one's reckoning; unheard of &c. (exceptional) 83; startling, surprising; sudden &c. (instantaneous) 113. unpredictable, unforeseeable (unknowable) 519. Adv. abruptly, unexpectedly, surprisingly; plump, pop, a l'improviste[Fr], unawares; without notice, without warning, without a "by your leave"; like a thief in the night, like a thunderbolt; in an unguarded moment; suddenly &c. (instantaneously) 113. Int. heydey[obs3]! &c. (wonder) 870. Phr. little did one think, little did one expect; nobody would ever suppose, nobody would ever think, nobody would ever expect; who would have thought? it beats the Dutch|!.
#509. [Failure of expectation.] Disappointment.—N. disappointment; blighted hope, balk; blow; anticlimax; slip 'twixt cup and lip; nonfulfillment of one's hopes; sad disappointment, bitter disappointment; trick of fortune; afterclap; false expectation, vain expectation; miscalculation &c. 481; fool's paradise; much cry and little wool. V. be disappointed; look blank, look blue; look aghast, stand aghast &c. (wonder) 870; find to one's cost; laugh on the wrong side of one's mouth; find one a false prophet. not realize one's hope, not realize one's expectation. [cause to be disappointed] disappoint; frustrate, discomfit, crush, defeat (failure) 732; crush one's hope, dash one's hope, balk one's hope, disappoint one's hope, blight one's hope, falsify one's hope, defeat one's hope, discourage; balk, jilt, bilk; play one false, play a trick; dash the cup from the lips, tantalize; dumfound, dumbfound, dumbfounder, dumfounder (astonish) 870. Adj. disappointed &c. v.; disconcerted, aghast; disgruntled; out of one's reckoning. Phr. the mountain labored and brought forth a mouse; parturiunt montes[Lat]; nascitur ridiculus mus [Lat][Horace]; diis aliter visum[Lat][obs3], the bubble burst; one's countenance falling.
#510. Foresight.—N. foresight, prospicience[obs3], prevision, long- sightedness; anticipation; providence &c. (preparation) 673. forethought, forecast; predeliberation[obs3], presurmise[obs3]; foregone conclusion &c. (prejudgment) 481; prudence &c. (caution) 864. foreknowledge; prognosis; precognition, prescience, prenotion[obs3], presentiment; second sight; sagacity &c. (intelligence) 498; antepast[obs3], prelibation[obs3], prophasis[obs3]. prospect &c. (expectation) 507; foretaste; prospectus &c. (plan) 626. V. foresee; look forwards to, look ahead, look beyond; scent from afar; look into the future, pry into the future, peer into the future. see one's way; see how the land lies, get the lay of the land, see how the wind blows, test the waters, see how the cat jumps. anticipate; expect &c. 507; be beforehand &c. (early) 132; predict &c. 511; foreknow, forejudge, forecast; presurmise[obs3]; have an eye to the future, have an eye to the main chance; respicere finem[Lat]; keep a sharp lookout &c. (vigilance) 459; forewarn &c. 668. Adj. foreseeing &c. v.; prescient; farseeing, farsighted; sagacious &c. (intelligent) 498; weatherwise[obs3]; provident &c. (prepared) 673; prospective &c. 507. Adv. against the time when. Phr. cernit omnia Deus vindex[Lat]; mihi cura futuri[Lat]; run it up the flagpole and see who salutes.
#511. Prediction.—N. prediction, announcement; program, programme &c. (plan) 626[Brit]; premonition &c. (warning) 668; prognosis, prophecy, vaticination, mantology[obs3], prognostication, premonstration|; augury, auguration|; ariolation|, hariolation|; foreboding, aboding[obs3]; bodement[obs3], abodement[obs3]; omniation|, omniousness[obs3]; auspices, forecast; omen &c. 512; horoscope, nativity; sooth[obs3], soothsaying; fortune telling, crystal gazing; divination; necromancy &c. 992. [Divination by the stars] astrology[obs3], horoscopy[obs3], judicial astrology1[obs3]. [obs3] adytum[Place of prediction]. prefiguration[obs3], prefigurement; prototype, type. [person who predicts] oracle &c. 513. V. predict, prognosticate, prophesy, vaticinate, divine, foretell, soothsay, augurate[obs3], tell fortunes; cast a horoscope, cast a nativity; advise; forewarn &c. 668. presage, augur, bode; abode, forebode; foretoken, betoken; prefigure, preshow[obs3]; portend; foreshow[obs3], foreshadow; shadow forth, typify, pretypify[obs3], ominate[obs3], signify, point to. usher in, herald, premise, announce; lower. hold out expectation, raise expectation, excite expectation, excite hope; bid fair, promise, lead one to expect; be the precursor &c 64. [predict by mathematical or statistical means from past experience] extrapolate, project. Adj. predicting &cv.; predictive, prophetic; fatidic[obs3], fatidical[obs3]; vaticinal, oracular, fatiloquent[obs3], haruspical, Sibylline; weatherwise[obs3]. ominous, portentous, augurous[obs3], augurial, augural; auspicial[obs3], auspicious; prescious[obs3], monitory, extispicious[obs3], premonitory, significant of, pregnant with, bit with the fate of. Phr. "coming events cast their shadows before" [Campbell]; dicamus bona verba[Lat]; "there buds the promise of celestial worth" [Young].
[1] The following terms, expressive of different forms of divination, have been collected from various sources, and are here given as a curious illustration of bygone superstitions:—
Divination by oracles, Theomancy[obs3]; by the Bible, Bibliomancy; by ghosts, Psychomancy[obs3]; by crystal gazing, Crystallomancy[obs3]; by shadows or manes, Sciomancy; by appearances in the air, Aeromancy[obs3], Chaomancy[obs3]; by the stars at birth, Genethliacs; by meteors, Meteoromancy[obs3]; by winds, Austromancy[obs3]; by sacrificial appearances, Aruspicy (or Haruspicy)[obs3], Hieromancy[obs3], Hieroscopy[obs3]; by the entrails of animals sacrificed, Extispicy[obs3], Hieromancy[obs3]; by the entrails of a human sacrifice, Anthropomancy[obs3]; by the entrails of fishes, Ichthyomancy[obs3]; by sacrificial fire, Pyromancy[obs3]; by red-hot iron, Sideromancy[obs3]; by smoke from the altar, Capnomancy[obs3]; by mice, Myomancy[obs3]; by birds, Orniscopy[obs3], Ornithomancy[obs3]; by a cock picking up grains, Alectryomancy (or Alectromancy)[obs3]; by fishes, Ophiomancy[obs3]; by herbs, Botanomancy[obs3]; by water, Hydromancy[obs3]; by fountains, Pegomancy[obs3]; by a wand, Rhabdomancy; by dough of cakes, Crithomancy[obs3]; by meal, Aleuromancy[obs3], Alphitomancy[obs3]; by salt, Halomancy[obs3]; by dice, Cleromancy[obs3]; by arrows, Belomancy[obs3]; by a balanced hatchet, Axinomancy[obs3]; by a balanced sieve, Coscinomancy[obs3]; by a suspended ring, Dactyliomancy[obs3]; by dots made at random on paper, Geomancy[obs3]; by precious stones, Lithomancy[obs3]; by pebbles, Pessomancy[obs3]; by pebbles drawn from a heap, Psephomancy[obs3]; by mirrors, Catoptromancy[obs3]; by writings in ashes, Tephramancy[obs3]; by dreams, Oneiromancy[obs3]; by the hand, Palmistry, Chiromancy; by nails reflecting the sun's rays, Onychomancy[obs3]; by finger rings, Dactylomancy[obs3]; by numbers, Arithmancy[obs3]; by drawing lots, Sortilege[obs3]; by passages in books, Stichomancy[obs3]; by the letters forming the name of the person, Onomancy[obs3], Nomancy; by the features, Anthroposcopy[obs3]; by the mode of laughing, Geloscopy[obs3]; by ventriloquism, Gastromancy[obs3]; by walking in a circle, Gyromancy[obs3]; by dropping melted wax into water, Ceromancy[obs3]; by currents, Bletonism; by the color and peculiarities of wine, Œnomancy[obs3].
#512. Omen.—N. omen, portent, presage, prognostic, augury, auspice;
sign &c. (indication) 550; harbinger &c. (precursor) 64; yule candle|!.
bird of ill omen; signs of the times; gathering clouds; warning &c.
668.
prefigurement &c. 511.
Adj. ill-boding.
Phr. auspicium melioris aevi[Lat][obs3].
#513. Oracle.—N. oracle; prophet, prophesier, seer, soothsayer, augur, fortune teller, crystal gazer[obs3], witch, geomancer[obs3], aruspex[obs3]; aruspice[obs3], haruspice[obs3]; haruspex; astrologer, star gazer[obs3]; Sibyl; Python, Pythoness[obs3]; Pythia; Pythian oracle, Delphian oracle; Monitor, Sphinx, Tiresias, Cassandra[obs3], Sibylline leaves; Zadkiel, Old Moore; sorcerer &c. 994; interpreter &c. 524. [person who predicts by non-mystical (natural) means] predictor, prognosticator, forecaster; weather forecaster, weatherman. Phr. a prophet is without honor in his own country; "you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows" [Bob Dylan].