prophesy

verb

1. To speak or write with divine inspiration; to act as prophet.

   “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:”

   “No, but when the Spirit fils The fantastick Pannicles: Full of fier; then I write”

   “[…] at that very moment a loud and high-pitched voice broke the outer silence of the night. It was Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, prophesying. There was nothing new in that. Once in a while Chielo was possessed by the spirit of her god and she began to prophesy.”

2. To predict, to foretell (with or without divine inspiration).

   “Then I perceive that will be verified Henry the Fifth did sometime prophesy ‘If once he come to be a cardinal, He’ll make his cap co-equal with the crown.’”

   “My Lord of Hereford here whom you call King, / Is a foule traitour to proud Herefords King, / And if you crowne him let me propheſie, / The bloud of Engliſh ſhall manure the ground, / And future ages groane for this foule act, [...]”

   “He doth not prophesy good concerning me.”

   “People prophesied a long continuance to this already lengthened frost; said the spring would be very late; no spring fashions required; no summer clothing purchased for a short uncertain summer.”

   “‘It has been prophesied more than once that he will find it.’”

3. To foreshow; to herald; to prefigure.

   “Methought thy very gait did prophesy A royal nobleness. I must embrace thee.”

4. (intransitive)To speak out on the Bible as an expression of holy inspiration; to preach.

noun

1. (alt-of, countable, obsolete, uncountable)Obsolete spelling of prophecy; now a misspelling.

   “I take it néedles, and booteles to make ouer déepe, or ſcrupulous enquiry into euery moſt auncient, and obſolete antiquitie: I preſuppoſe it ſufficient to peruſe, and examine the moſt famous, and moſt autentique ſuppoſed propheſies, that haue curranteſt paſſage, and repaſſage in moſt mouthes, and bookes: conſidering how eaſily euerie indifferent man may proportionably make eſtimation of the woorſe, by the better, and ratably value the one by the other.”

   “This was the fullneſs of Time, in which all the Propheſies (concerning the Meſſias) were exactly fulfilled. Nothing was ever foretold of Jeſus Chriſt, which was not exactly performed in the fullneſs of Time.”

   “BEING An Hiſtorical Deſcription of the Papal Empire, as it is Originally Copied out of the Propheſies of Holy Writ.”

   “From 1890, when the McKinley bill passed, nursery products had steadily declined, until to-day many articles were being offered at rates below the actual cost of production, so that the people who favored the restoration of the duty have lived to see their prophesies falsified, because the result has not been to decrease the plantage and increase the price, but has had exactly the opposite effect.”

   “I’ve watched the “magic” and the “mystery” of the Bible from soul-winning clinics, Salvation Army curb services, and stadiumsful-on-crusade to perjury-proofing on Perry Mason (“Swear to tell the whole truth . . . so help me God.”) to prophesies of submarines by desert-dwellers!”