presage
verb & noun; formal

- To be a warning or sign of something about to happen

- To foreshadow, foretell or predict a future event

- As a noun, an omen or warning of what may happen

- As a noun, an intuitive feeling about the future

Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Collins English Dictionary, Merriam-Webster

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WORD ORIGIN

"Presage" first appeared as a noun in English in the late 14th century, meaning something that foreshadows an event. It comes from Latin praesagium, “a foreboding”, through forms related to praesagire, “to perceive beforehand”.

The Latin elements are prae, meaning “before”, and sagus, “prophetic” or keenly perceptive. The same ancient family gave English sagacious, meaning sharp-minded or discerning. Despite appearances, presage has no connection with sage in the sense of a wise person; that word comes from a different Latin root.

The verb arrived in the 1560s through French présager. It first meant to foreshadow or signify beforehand, and later also developed the sense of experiencing a presentiment.

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THE PIGEONS THAT SAW SIGNS

In 1948, psychologist B. F. Skinner placed hungry pigeons in cages where food appeared automatically at regular intervals. Nothing the birds did could make it arrive sooner.

Yet several pigeons began performing curious routines. One repeatedly turned anticlockwise; another thrust its head towards an upper corner. Skinner thought that each bird had accidentally connected a particular movement with the arrival of food. It behaved as though its private ritual presaged lunch.

The experiment became a celebrated model of superstition: when two events occur close together, a mind may invent a causal link. A football supporter wears the same socks after a victory; an investor treats three rising days as evidence of a fourth. Success strengthens the supposed pattern, while failures are conveniently forgotten.

Later researchers challenged Skinner’s interpretation. Some of the pigeons’ movements may have been natural feeding-related behaviour triggered by the regular timetable rather than genuine attempts to control the dispenser. That correction makes the story even better: scientists themselves had to resist reading too much meaning into an intriguing pattern.

We’re built to search for signals because real signals can help us anticipate danger or opportunity. But randomness frequently dresses up as evidence. A presage may point towards tomorrow—or merely reveal the pattern-making machinery in our heads.

Helga & Paul Smith

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SYNONYMS

betoken, foreshadow, foretell, portend, predict, PRESAGE, signal

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today. Say something like:

“A sudden silence around a project may PRESAGE an important announcement.”

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today. Say something like:

“To avoid social embarrassment, it's almost always best to deliver DRESSING-DOWNS in private.” 

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