Au'gurs, a board or college of diviners who, among the Romans, predicted future events and announced the will of the gods. Their predictions were determined by signs in the sky, especially thunder and lightning; by the flight and cries of birds; by the feeding of the sacred chickens; by the course taken or sounds uttered by various quadrupeds or by serpents; by accidents or occurrences, such as spilling the salt or sneezing. The answers of the augurs, as well as the signs by which they were governed, were called auguries, but bird-predictions were properly termed auspices. Nothing of consequence could be undertaken without consulting the augurs, and by the mere utterance of the words alio die (on another day) they could dissolve the assembly of the people and annul all decrees passed at the meeting.