See work the oracle in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
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{
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1901, Henry James, The Papers:",
"text": "You've thought there were some high souls that didn't do it—that wouldn't, I mean, to work the oracle, lift a little finger of their own. But, Lord bless you, give them a chance—you'll find some of the greatest the greediest.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1906, John Strange Winter, A Simple Gentleman:",
"text": "\"You must work the oracle.\" said Lettice smiling at him. / And John Valentine did work the oracle to such good purpose that when, two days later, the brother and sister went to London for ten days, John Valentine went with them.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1910, Walter Arnold Mursell, Two on a Tour:",
"text": "It is his glowing eye and ingenuous smile that works the oracle, I fancy.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1917, C. J. Dennis, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke:",
"text": "O' course we worked the oricle; you bet! / But, 'Struth, I ain't recovered frum it yet!",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To manipulate circumstances to one's personal advantage."
],
"id": "en-work_the_oracle-en-verb-sBdU--Rm",
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"(dated, informal) To manipulate circumstances to one's personal advantage."
],
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{
"ref": "2006, Thomas Barker, Police Ethics: Crisis in Law Enforcement, page 90:",
"text": "Holdaway reports that procedural rules are often considered irrelevant by the British police as they go about their daily duties. The occupational culture of the British police condones the use of “verbals” or “working the oracle.”",
"type": "quote"
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],
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"To fabricate a suspect's verbal statement."
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"(UK, law enforcement slang) To fabricate a suspect's verbal statement."
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{
"ref": "1901, Henry James, The Papers:",
"text": "You've thought there were some high souls that didn't do it—that wouldn't, I mean, to work the oracle, lift a little finger of their own. But, Lord bless you, give them a chance—you'll find some of the greatest the greediest.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1906, John Strange Winter, A Simple Gentleman:",
"text": "\"You must work the oracle.\" said Lettice smiling at him. / And John Valentine did work the oracle to such good purpose that when, two days later, the brother and sister went to London for ten days, John Valentine went with them.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1910, Walter Arnold Mursell, Two on a Tour:",
"text": "It is his glowing eye and ingenuous smile that works the oracle, I fancy.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1917, C. J. Dennis, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke:",
"text": "O' course we worked the oricle; you bet! / But, 'Struth, I ain't recovered frum it yet!",
"type": "quote"
}
],
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"To manipulate circumstances to one's personal advantage."
],
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"(dated, informal) To manipulate circumstances to one's personal advantage."
],
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"dated",
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]
},
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{
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"text": "Holdaway reports that procedural rules are often considered irrelevant by the British police as they go about their daily duties. The occupational culture of the British police condones the use of “verbals” or “working the oracle.”",
"type": "quote"
}
],
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"(UK, law enforcement slang) To fabricate a suspect's verbal statement."
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"word": "work the oracle"
}
Download raw JSONL data for work the oracle meaning in English (2.9kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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