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auspices

 [aw-speks]   Example Sentences Origin

aus·pex

   [aw-speks]
noun, plural aus·pi·ces  [aw-spuh-seez] .
an augur of ancient Rome.
Origin:
1590–1600; < Latin: one who observes birds, soothsayer, diviner, equivalent to au-, base of avis bird + -spex watcher (spec-, stem of specere to look at) + -s nominative singular suffix

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Auspices is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
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Example Sentences
  • The diving that occurs under Smithsonian auspices is called scientific diving.
  • Many of the future technologies discussed are being developed under the auspices of legitimate programs with beneficial outputs.
  • She works under his auspices.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

aus·pice

   [aw-spis]
noun, plural aus·pic·es  [aw-spuh-siz] .
1.
Usually, auspices. patronage; support; sponsorship: under the auspices of the Department of Education.
2.
Often, auspices. a favorable sign or propitious circumstance.
3.
a divination or prognostication, originally from observing birds.
Origin:
1525–35; < French < Latin auspicium a bird-watching, divination from flight of birds, equivalent to auspic- (stem of auspex) + -ium -ium
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

auspex
1590s, "one who observes flights of birds for the purpose of taking omens," from L. avispex, from PIE *awi-spek- "observer of birds," from *awi- "bird" + *spek- "to see." Connection between birds and omens also is in Gk. oionos "bird of prey, bird of omen, omen," and ornis "bird," which also could mean
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"omen."

auspices
pl. (and now the usual form) of auspice; 1530s, "observation of birds for the purpose of taking omens," from Fr. auspice (14c.), from L. auspicum "function of an auspex" (q.v.). Meaning "any indication of the future (especially favorable)" is from 1650s; earlier (1630s) in
extended sense of "benevolent influence of greater power, influence exerted on behalf of someone or something," originally in expression under the auspices of.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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