Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In antiquity:
  • noun A kind of divination among the ancients by means of words which seemed to be uttered from the belly; divination by ventriloquism.
  • noun A species of divination by means of large-bellied glasses or other round transparent vessels, in the center of which figures were supposed to appear by magic art.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A kind of divination, by means of words seemingly uttered from the stomach.
  • noun A species of divination, by means of glasses or other round, transparent vessels, in the center of which figures are supposed to appear by magic art.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Divination by interpreting the sounds and signs of the belly. It is now sometimes associated as being a form of ventriloquism, where vocal sounds are produced from the belly.
  • noun Divination by noting magical visions in large-bellied glasses. It is sometimes described as a technique where a child is placed in front of a glass filled with water, the images in the glass were then interpreted. Similar to crystallomancy.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Ancient Greek gastro- stem from the Ancient Greek gaster, the belly, and also the wide part of a bottle.

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Examples

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  • Divination by sounds from the belly.

    May 13, 2008