Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An old mode of divination, consisting in suspending a sieve, or fixing it to the point of a pair of shears, then repeating a formula of words and the names of persons suspected of some crime or other act. If the sieve moved when a name was repeated, the person named was deemed guilty.
Wiktionary
- n. Divination by the use of a suspended sieve sometimes from tongs or shears. The movement of the sieve when a person's name or word is spoken is interpreted.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Divination by means of a suspended sieve.
Etymologies
- Ancient Greek koskinomantis, "a diviner using a sieve", from koskinon, "a sieve". (Wiktionary)
Examples
“By coscinomancy, most religiously observed of old amidst the ceremonies of the ancient Romans.”
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel
“As for magic, necromancy, pyromancy, geomancy, coscinomancy, and all the other mancies -- there was then a whole literature about them.”
“A mode of divination much in vogue in New England as in Old. Called also “sieve and shears” or “riddle and shears”: the learned name is coscinomancy.”
"Letter of Thomas Brattle, F. R. S., 1692"; from Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘coscinomancy’.
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-mancy, -mantic
denoting or relating to divination by a specified means
geomancy, necromantic, legilimancy, necromancy, rhabdomancy, alectryomancy, aleuromancy, alomancy, alphitomancy, ambulomancy, anthracomancy, anthropomancy and 144 more...
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phrontistery - c
from phrontistery.info
caballine, cabas, cable, caboched, cabochon, caboose, cabotage, cabré, cabrie, cabriole, cabriolet, cacaesthesia and 1298 more...
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-mancy
mancies - fancy and otherwise - many from the vatic attic
aspidomancy, adiathermancy, aeromancy, xylomancy, chaomancy, stigonomancy, stichomancy, alectryomancy, ceromancy, spodomancy, chiromancy, coscinomancy and 81 more...
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Sacred & Superstitious Philosophical ...
Religious, philosophical, supernatural terms and words.
san graal, occult, sangraal, deicide, deipotent, demonarchy, demonosopher, deodate, peri, rewilding, tzitzimime, metapsychic and 31 more...
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taking the auspices
Being kinds of and related to divination.
augur, catoptromancy, aleuromancy, aeromancy, austromancy, ceraunoscopy, chaomancy, nephomancy, meteormancy, ailuromancy, alectryomancy, gyromancy and 69 more...
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esperluette's Words
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