| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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3. Word Choice: New Uses, Common Confusion, and Constraints
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| § 36. auger / augur |
| Don’t confuse these words. An auger is a tool used for boring holes. An augur is a seer or soothsayer. The verb augur means “to foretell or betoken,” as in This development augurs change in the software business. Augur is used most commonly as a verb without an object in phrases such as augur well or augur ill, as in The rehearsal miscues did not augur well for opening night. | 1 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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