anthropomancy
(ænˈθrəʊpəʊˌmænsɪ)
[f. anthropo- + Gr. µαντεία divination: see -mancy. Cf. mod.Fr. anthropomancie. Cotgr. 1611 has ‘Anthropomantie: Divination by the raising of dead men.’]
Pretended divination by the entrails of men.
| 1618 in B. Holyday Technogamia. 1652 Gaule Magastrom. 367 Anthropomancy, or predicting by intrailes of men, women, children. 1693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. xxv, Anthropomancy practised by the Roman emperor Heliogabalus. 1731 in Bailey; and in mod. Dicts. |