Divine, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Divined; p. pr. & vb. n. Divining.]
Etymology: [L. divinare: cf. F. deviner. See Divination.]
1. To foresee or foreknow; to detect; to anticipate; to conjecture. A sagacity which divined the evil designs. Bancroft.
2. To foretell; to predict; to presage. Darest thou . . . divine his downfall Shak.
3. To render divine; to deify. [Obs.] Living on earth like angel new divined. Spenser.
Syn. -- To foretell; predict; presage; prophesy; prognosticate; forebode; guess; conjecture; surmise.
3 other Webster entries under this spelling
Divine, a. [Compar. Diviner (; superl. Divinest.]
1. Of or belonging to God; as, divine perfections; the divine will. "The immensity of the divine nature." Paley.
2. Proceeding from God; as, divine judgments. "Divine protection." Bacon.
3. Appropriated to God, or celebrating his praise; religious; pious; holy; as, divine service; divine songs; divine worship.
4. Pertaining to, or proceeding from, a deity; partaking of the nature of a god or the gods. "The divine Apollo said." Shak.
5. Godlike; heavenly; excellent in the highest degree; supremely admirable; apparently above what is human. In this application, the word admits of comparison; as, the divinest mind. Sir J. Davies. "The divine Desdemona." Shak. A divine sentence is in the lips of the king. Prov. xvi. 10. But not to one in this benighted age Is that diviner inspiration given. Gray.
6. Presageful; foreboding; prescient. [Obs.] Yet oft his heart, divine of something ill, Misgave him. Milton.
7. Relating to divinity or theology. Church history and other divine learning. South.
Syn. -- Supernatural; superhuman; godlike; heavenly; celestial; pious; holy; sacred; preëminent.
Divine, n.
1. One skilled in divinity; a theologian. "Poets were the first divines." Denham.
2. A minister of the gospel; a priest; a clergyman. The first divines of New England were surpassed by none in extensive erudition. J. Woodbridge.
Divine, v. i.
1. To use or practice divination; to foretell by divination; to utter prognostications. The prophets thereof divine for money. Micah iii. 11.
2. To have or feel a presage or foreboding. Suggest but truth to my divining thoughts. Shak.
3. To conjecture or guess; as, to divine rightly.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for divine; he lists it under augur, holy.
Where he writes about it:
Divine has reference to the ancient soothsayers' arts (as in Gen. xliv, 5, 15), and refers rather to reading hearts than to reading the future. — from augur
We say I could not divine his motive, or his intention. — from augur
Divine has been used with great looseness, as applying to anything eminent or admirable, in the line either of goodness or of mere power, as to eloquence, music, etc., but there is a commendable tendency to restrict the word to its higher sense, as designating that which belongs to or is worthy of the Divine Being. — from holy