Definition of "prophesy"
prophesy1
verb
third-person singular simple present prophesies, present participle prophesying, simple past and past participle prophesied
To speak or write with divine inspiration; to act as prophet.
Quotations
[…] at that very moment a loud and high-pitched voice broke the outer silence of the night. It was Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, prophesying. There was nothing new in that. Once in a while Chielo was possessed by the spirit of her god and she began to prophesy.
1958, Chinua Achebe, chapter 11, in Things Fall Apart, New York: Astor-Honor, published 1959, part 1
To predict, to foretell (with or without divine inspiration).
Quotations
Then I perceive that will be verifiedHenry the Fifth did sometime prophesy‘If once he come to be a cardinal,He’ll make his cap co-equal with the crown.’
1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene i]
My Lord of Hereford here whom you call King, / Is a foule traitour to proud Herefords King, / And if you crowne him let me propheſie, / The bloud of Engliſh ſhall manure the ground, / And future ages groane for this foule act, [...]
1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, [Act IV, scene i]
To foreshow; to herald; to prefigure.
Quotations
Methought thy very gait did prophesyA royal nobleness. I must embrace thee.
c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene iii]
(intransitive, Christianity) To speak out on the Bible as an expression of holy inspiration; to preach.
Quotations
[…] if we consider that we have no certain wayes of determining places of difficulty and Question, infallibly and certainly […] we shall see a very great necessity in allowing a liberty in Prophesying without prescribing authoritatively to other mens consciences, and becomming Lords and Masters of their Faith.
1646, Jeremy Taylor, Of the Liberty of Prophesying, Section 4, in Treatises of 1. The liberty of prophesying, 2. Prayer ex tempore, 3. Episcopacie: together with a sermon, London: R. Royston, 1648, p. 73
prophesy2
noun
countable and uncountable, plural prophesies
Obsolete spelling of prophecy; now a misspelling.
Quotations
I take it néedles, and booteles to make ouer déepe, or ſcrupulous enquiry into euery moſt auncient, and obſolete antiquitie: I preſuppoſe it ſufficient to peruſe, and examine the moſt famous, and moſt autentique ſuppoſed propheſies, that haue curranteſt paſſage, and repaſſage in moſt mouthes, and bookes: conſidering how eaſily euerie indifferent man may proportionably make eſtimation of the woorſe, by the better, and ratably value the one by the other.
1588, John Harvey, A Discoursive Probleme concerning Prophesies, how far they are to be valued or credited, page 8
This was the fullneſs of Time, in which all the Propheſies (concerning the Meſſias) were exactly fulfilled. Nothing was ever foretold of Jeſus Chriſt, which was not exactly performed in the fullneſs of Time.
1670, Thomas Price, The Mystery of Mysteries Revealed in the Fullnesse of Time. […], London: Printed by T. R. and T. D. for William Saywell […], page 25
BEING An Hiſtorical Deſcription of the Papal Empire, as it is Originally Copied out of the Propheſies of Holy Writ.
1690, J[ohn] B[utler], Bellua Marina: or the Monstrous Beast Which Arose out of the Sea. […], London: […] George Croom, title page
From 1890, when the McKinley bill passed, nursery products had steadily declined, until to-day many articles were being offered at rates below the actual cost of production, so that the people who favored the restoration of the duty have lived to see their prophesies falsified, because the result has not been to decrease the plantage and increase the price, but has had exactly the opposite effect.
1894 July, “The American Association: Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Meeting at Niagara Falls”, in The National Nurseryman, volume 2, number 6, page 74
I’ve watched the “magic” and the “mystery” of the Bible from soul-winning clinics, Salvation Army curb services, and stadiumsful-on-crusade to perjury-proofing on Perry Mason (“Swear to tell the whole truth . . so help me God.”) to prophesies of submarines by desert-dwellers!
1975 December, The Student, volume LV, number 3, Nashville, Tenn.: The Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention