Emily Dickinson Lexicon

A-LEC-TRY-OM'AN-CY, n. [Gr. αλεκτρυων, a cock, and μαντεια, divination.]

An ancient practice of foretelling events by means of a cock. The twenty-four letters were laid on the ground, and a grain of corn on each; a cock was then permitted to pick up the grains, and the letters under the grains selected, being formed into words, were supposed to foretell the event desired. – Encyc.