[See FORTUNE sb. 3 d.] One who ‘tells fortunes.’
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., V. i. 239.
| They brought one Pinch; a hungry lean-fac’d villain, | |
| A meer anatomy, a mountebank, | |
| A thred-bare Iuggler, and a Fortune teller. |
1612. J. Mason, Anat. Sorc., 46. They trauelled about the country, as fortune-tellers, charmers, inchanters, and such like do with vs.
1716. Swift, Phillis, 51.
| That long ago a fortune-teller | |
| Exactly said what now befel her; | |
| And in a glass had made her see | |
| A serving-man of low degree. |
1874. Burnand, My Time, xii. 101. Not as the fortune-teller, who, from the lines engraved on the open palm, predicts a destiny; but, by the whole hand, and the hand’s movements, I will warrant myself, if going by first instincts only, to be right in my appreciation of individual character.
