Or-acle

Or-acle

1.	(esp. in ancient Greece) an utterance, often ambiguous or obscure, given by a priest or priestess at a shrine as the response of a god to an inquiry.

2.	the agency or medium giving such responses.

3.	a shrine or place at which such responses were given: the oracle of Apollo at Delphi.

4.	a person who delivers authoritative, wise, or highly regarded and influential pronouncements.

5.	a divine communication or revelation.

6.	any person or thing serving as an agency of divine communication.

7.	any utterance made or received as authoritative, extremely wise, or infallible.

8.	oracles, the Scriptures.

9.	the holy of holies of the Temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem. I Kings 6:16, 19–23.

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[Origin: 1350–1400; ME >true">ōrāculum, equiv. to ōrā(re) to plead (see oration) + -culum -cle²]