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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
horoscope
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
cast
▪ He won't cast his own horoscope, because he doesn't want to know too much about the future.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
cast a horoscope
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And stargazers who slavishly read those horoscopes are set for the sign of eternal damnation.
▪ Even reading your horoscope can get up your nose.
▪ However, some minor sporting events, television schedules, crosswords and horoscopes have been omitted.
▪ No, we're not doing horoscopes just looking ahead to Saturday afternoon.
▪ Particular items like cartoons and horoscopes often had high readerships; leading articles did not.
▪ The Pope has put betting - with tax-dodging and reading horoscopes - on a list of sins that risk eternal damnation.
▪ There was no sense in letting a silly thing like an unsolicited horoscope put her in a flap.
▪ You can even have your horoscope added to the mix.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Horoscope

Horoscope \Hor"o*scope\, n. [F. horoscope, L. horoscopus, fr. Gr. ?, adj., observing hours or times, esp. observing the hour of birth, n., a horoscope; ? hour + ? to view, observe. See Hour, and -scope.]

  1. (Astrol.)

    1. The representation made of the aspect of the heavens at the moment of a person's birth, by which the astrologer professed to foretell the events of the person's life; especially, the sign of the zodiac rising above the horizon at such a moment.

    2. The diagram or scheme of twelve houses or signs of the zodiac, into which the whole circuit of the heavens was divided for the purposes of such prediction of fortune.

  2. The planisphere invented by Jean Paduanus.

  3. A table showing the length of the days and nights at all places.
    --Heyse.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
horoscope

c.1050, horoscopus, from Latin horoscopus; the modern form is considered to be a mid-16c. reborrowing via Middle French horoscope. Ultimately from Greek horoskopos "nativity, horoscope," also "one who casts a horoscope," from hora "hour" (see year) + skopos "watcher; what is watched" (see scope (n.1)), in reference to the hour of one's birth.

Wiktionary
horoscope

n. 1 an astrological forecast of a person's future based on such information 2 the position of the planets and stars at the moment of someone's birth; a diagram of such positions

WordNet
horoscope
  1. n. a prediction of someone's future based on the relative positions of the planets

  2. a diagram of the positions of the planets and signs of the zodiac at a particular time and place

Wikipedia
Horoscope

A horoscope is an astrological chart or diagram representing the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, astrological aspects, and sensitive angles at the time of an event, such as the moment of a person's birth. The word horoscope is derived from Greek words hõra and scopos meaning "time" "observer" (horoskopos, pl. horoskopoi, or "marker(s) of the hour.") Other commonly used names for the horoscope in English include natal chart, astrological chart, astro-chart, celestial map, sky-map, star-chart, cosmogram, vitasphere, radical chart, radix, chart wheel, or simply chart. It is used as a method of divination regarding events relating to the point in time it represents, and it forms the basis of the horoscopic traditions of astrology.

In common usage, horoscope often refers to an astrologer's interpretation, usually based on a system of solar Sun sign astrology; based strictly on the position of the Sun at the Time of Birth, or on the calendar significance of an event, as in Chinese astrology. In particular, many newspapers and magazines carry predictive columns, written in prose that may be written more for increasing readership than tied directly to the Sun or other aspects of the solar system, allegedly based on celestial influences in relation to the zodiacal placement of the Sun on the Month of birth, Cusp(2 days before or after any particular sign, an overlap), or decante(the month divided into 3 ten day periods) of the person month of birth, identifying the individual's Sun sign or "star sign" based on the tropical zodiac.

No scientific studies have shown support for the accuracy of horoscopes, and the methods used to make interpretations are pseudo-scientific. In modern scientific framework no known interaction exists that could be responsible for the transmission of the alleged influence between a person and the position of stars in the sky at the moment of birth. Besides, all tests done so far, keeping strict methods to include a control group and proper blinding between experimenters and subjects have shown no effect beyond pure chance. Further, some psychological tests have shown that it is possible to construct personality descriptions and foretelling generic enough to satisfy most members of a large audience simultaneously. This is usually referred to as the Forer or Barnum effect.

Horoscope (ballet)

Horoscope is a ballet created in 1937 by Frederick Ashton with scenery by Sophie Fedorovitch and music by Constant Lambert. It is based on astrological themes, and is reminiscent of Gustav Holst's The Planets in its musical exploration of the mystical. The story of the ballet concerns a young man and woman who were born in the disjoint Sun signs of Leo and Virgo. However, both have their Moon in Gemini, and they are able to overcome their fate and become lovers.

It had its first performance by the Vic-Wells Ballet at Sadler's Wells Theatre on 27 January 1938, starring Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes, and it made stars of both principal dancers, but particularly Michael Somes, who was described by one critic as potentially the finest British male dancer of the half century. At that time Constant Lambert was conducting an affair with the young Margot Fonteyn, but they later separated. The ballet has been described as a symbolic representation of this affair. Other roles were danced by Richard Ellis and Alan Carter (the Gemini), and Pamela May (the Moon).

The ballet was praised by the critics: Francis Toye called it ... perhaps the most successful modern ballet that has been produced at this theatre for a long time. Arnold Haskell wrote: ''With Horoscope, ballet, now truly indigenous in England, readies a splendid maturity.''

Horoscope was to be Lambert's last original work for 14 years, during which time he concentrated on conducting and touring.

The full score was lost in the Netherlands, only nine numbers surviving. The Vic-Wells Ballet was touring there in 1940 when German forces occupied the country, and they had to escape hurriedly, leaving behind scenery, costumes, and the full scores to both Horoscope and The Wise Virgins (an arrangement of Bach's music by William Walton). The work had had only 29 performances and was never revived.

The nine surviving numbers are:

  • " Palindromic Prelude" (Lambert claimed that the theme (which, as the name implies, can be played in either direction) was dictated to him by the ghost of Bernard van Dieren, who had died in 1936.)
  • "Dance for the Followers of Leo"
  • "Saraband for the Followers of Virgo"
  • "Man's Variation"
  • "Woman's Variation"
  • "Bacchanale"
  • "Valse for the Gemini"
  • "Pas de Deux"
  • "Invocation to the Moon and Finale".

For many years, the music for Horoscope was known only in the form of an abridged concert suite of five numbers that contained, according to contemporary commentators, the best of the music. Lambert himself recorded three of the movements ("Dance for the Followers of Leo", "Valse for the Gemini" and the "Invocation to the Moon and Finale") in 1945, with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. That was the first recording of any of the music from the ballet. In 1949, Lambert recorded two more numbers, "Saraband for the Followers of Virgo" and "Bacchanale", with the Philharmonia Orchestra. The five-movement Horoscope Suite was later recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra under Robert Irving (1953) and the English Northern Philharmonia under David Lloyd-Jones (1990).

In March 2003, the nine surviving numbers were recorded complete for the first time, by the BBC Concert Orchestra under Barry Wordsworth.

Usage examples of "horoscope".

Celia, my wench, if thou hast cast the horoscope for which Sir William asked, then let me have it.

CHAPTER FIVE CELIA bent over the horoscope which she was constructing.

Or simply that the horoscope which Celia had cast had told her that she and Kit would come together after a fashion which was past understanding, and this strange meeting supported what the horoscope told her?

Celia, who had been casting a horoscope for one of their neigh bouts who made pots and pans and wished to know what the future of his business would be, had risen from her chair to throw her arms around him.

When the horoscope said that our relationship would be a strange one it spoke true, for the marriage we shared was no legal one but a handfast, without witnesses, between a man who knew not who he was and a woman who knew who he was only too well.

There was Adam to care for, Mistress Church to help, a horoscope to draw up, an infusion of herbs to prepare for a woman who was still in pain after a difficult childbirth.

When she read the horoscope itself, she felt like breaking into hysterical laughter: A messagefrom someone in your past could have you lost in memories.

The memory of the circled horoscope was heavy as a lead ball in her chest.

Conrad would discover you knew I would come, that I would bring that child in response to the horoscope cast by his Frenchman.

He bent down to pick up the horoscope, refolded it carefully, then sat back, eyes hooded.

We had both been born under the sign of Libra, so if one believes in astrology, as Narayan, who once supplied me with my horoscope, certainly does, we were destined by the stars to know each other.

A writer in some strange way knows his own future - his end is in his beginning, as it is in the pages of a horoscope, and the schoolboy Swami, watching the friend with whom he had needlessly quarrelled, vanish into the vast unknown spaces of India, had already experienced a little of what Krishna came to feel as he watched his beloved wife die of typhoid.

As Chandran looked at the small piece of paper on which the horoscope was drawn, his heart bubbled over with joy.

Chandran read the horoscope a number of times, though he understood very little of it.

When she read the horoscope itself, she felt like breaking into hysterical laughter: A message from someone in your past could have you lost in memories.