You searched for: “inaugurate
inaugurate (verb), inaugurates; inaugurated; inaugurating
1. To make a formal beginning of; to initiate; to commence; to begin: "The end of World War II inaugurated the era of nuclear power."
2. To induct into office with formal ceremonies; to install: "The President of the U.S. was inaugurated for his second term in office."
A Roman priest interprets the flight of the birds as good or evil.

When we speak of the inauguration of a president, we use a word that carries us back to ancient times when people believed in omens, or signs that indicate what will happen in the future, and looked for them on every important occasion; however, the ceremony of inauguration today does not call for the observation of such predictions.

—The image and text is compiled from
Picturesque Word Origins; Webster's New International Dictionary;
G. & C. Merriam Company; Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A.; 1933; pages 70-71.

3. To introduce into public use by some formal ceremony: "Airmail service between Washington, D.C., and New York City was inaugurated in 1918."
4. Etymology: From Latin inaugurātus; past participle of inaugurāre, "to consecrate by augury" (a person chosen for the priesthood or other office; literally, "to take auguries").

The word inaugurate has its roots in the Latin term meaning, "to practice augury". In ancient Rome, a select few priests were charged with observing the flight and feeding of birds in order to discover signs of the future.

Such observations were known as auguries, and the practitioners of this art as augurs. For a few hundred years, the now-obsolete augurate meant, "to make an augury".

Presumably, it was the ceremonial connotation of auguring and not its "foretelling aspects" that brought inaugurate into print in English in 1606, with the meaning, "to induct into an office with suitable ceremonies".

This entry is located in the following units: augur- (page 2) in-2 (page 1)