Di*vine" (?), a. [Compar.
Diviner (&?;); superl. Divinest.] [F.
divin, L. divinus divine, divinely inspired, fr.
divus, dius, belonging to a deity; akin to Gr. &?;, and
L. deus, God. See Deity.] 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.
Di*vine", n. [L. divinus a
soothsayer, LL., a theologian. See Divine,
a.] 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.
Di*vine", v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Divined (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Divining.] [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.
Di*vine", 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.
