1. Anything perceived or happening that is believed to prophesy or to warn a good or an evil event or circumstance in the future: An increase in exports might be an omen of economic recovery.
2. A prognostic or foreboding of what will happen: When the black cat crossed in front of him, Manfred thought it would be a sign of some evil omen.
3. A prophetic significance; presage: Henry accidentally broke a mirror and he believed that it was an omen or an unfavorable sign that something terrible was about to happen.

To indicate or to warn that something bad could happen: When Bill and Mildred saw the bad weather, it omened a delay at the airport and that could be omening their holiday plans, too.

Translation: "May the omen be absent."

Interpreted to mean, "May this be no omen." or "May this not be an omen." "Let there be no evil omen [because of the word just used]."

A reference to the superstition that the mere mention of some evil could make it happen.

The Romans, who were strong believers in divination, had soothsayers who were available to interpret omens as a means of foretelling the future. In fact, soothsayers (diviners) were so popular that the Romans had many words for these practitioners, among them: auspex and haruspex.

An auspex relied on observation of birds and their behavior to foretell the future, and we have inherited this word as “auspices, auspicious,” and “inauspicious”.

A haruspex divined the future by examining the entrails of sacrificed animals and also made interpretations based on the observation of lightning and other natural phenomena.