Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A kind of divination said to have been practised by walking round in a circle or ring until the performer fell from dizziness, the manner of his fall being interpreted with reference to characters or signs previously placed about the ring, or in some such way.

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

  • noun A kind of divination performed by drawing a ring or circle, and walking in or around it.

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

  • noun Divination where people walk on a circle of letters until dizzy, the letters they fall on are significant. Similar to Dervishing.
  • noun Divination by whirling a coin on a circle of letters.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

gyro- + -mancy, from Ancient Greek gyros, a ring/circle/spiral.

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Examples

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Comments

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  • Fortunetelling by walking in a circle until dizzy; the fortune is determined by where the person falls.

    May 16, 2008

  • Hahaha! This will be great for my next party.

    May 16, 2008

  • It's not a real party until the gyromancy gets going.

    May 16, 2008

  • To me, it sounds like a literary genre that is described as romantic/fantasy tale about love in Greece.

    The flipside of this genre would be called falafelmancy.

    May 16, 2008

  • Kudos!

    May 16, 2008

  • Reminds a bit of cowpat bingo. But, ehrm, seriously, I think the Etruscans practiced a form of gyromancy with a game called cotabos. As it was explained to me at an archaeological museum in Italy, it involved walking around while spinning a plate balanced on a pole. Eventually the plate/walker would fall, and amid the mirth there was perceived to be a message in the location and manner of the fall. But a lot of what is 'known' about the Etruscans is conjecture and that applies to cotabos too.

    May 16, 2008