/awr"euh keuhl, or"-/ , n.
1. (esp. in ancient Greece) an utterance, often ambiguous or obscure, given by a priest or priestess at a shrine as the response of a god to an inquiry.
2. the agency or medium giving such responses.
3. a shrine or place at which such responses were given: the oracle of Apollo at Delphi.
4. a person who delivers authoritative, wise, or highly regarded and influential pronouncements.
5. a divine communication or revelation.
6. any person or thing serving as an agency of divine communication.
7. any utterance made or received as authoritative, extremely wise, or infallible.
8. oracles , the Scriptures.
9. the holy of holies of the Temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem. I Kings 6:16, 19-23.
[ 1350-1400; ME oraculum, equiv. to ora ( re ) to plead (see ORATION) + -culum -CLE 2 ]