oracle

oracle in Greek religion, priest or priestess who imparted the response of a god to a human questioner. The word is also used to refer to the response itself and to the shrine of a god. Every oracular shrine had a fixed method of divination. Many observed signs, such as the motion of objects dropped into a spring, the movement of birds, or the rustle of leaves. Often dreams were interpreted. A later and popular method involved the use of entranced persons whose ecstatic cries were interpreted by trained attendants. Before an oracle was questioned consultants underwent rites of purification and sacrifice. There were many established oracles in ancient Greece, the most famous being those of Zeus at Dodona and of Apollo at Delphi and at Didyma in Asia Minor. Other oracular shrines were located in Syria, Egypt, and Italy.

ORACLE Trademark A relational database management system developed and supplied by Oracle Corporation. It runs on a wide range of platforms, from mainframes to workstations, and a suite of application development tools is available.

Oracle A US corporation whose principal product is the DBMS ORACLE. Software sales and maintenance account for the bulk of the company's sales but it is also a significant provider of services. Oracle is ranked number 46 in terms of revenue in the list of the world's top IT suppliers (1993 figures).