tell fortunes

tell fortunes

To (profess to) anticipate, and inform about, future outcomes or see what future events will take place. There's this old lady in the apartment next to mine who tells fortunes for ten bucks. I never go in for stuff like that, but I'll admit that I'm a bit curious.
See also: fortune, tell
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • in future
  • in the future
  • in the short run
  • the shape of things to come
  • see no further than (the end of) (one's) (own) nose
  • see no further than the end of nose
  • in the foreseeable future
  • for the foreseeable future
  • for/in the foreseeable future
  • foreseeable
References in classic literature
Black-eyed gipsy girls, hooded in showy handkerchiefs, sallied forth to tell fortunes, and pale slender women with consumptive faces lingered upon the footsteps of ventriloquists and conjurors, and counted the sixpences with anxious eyes long before they were gained.
The Old Curiosity Shop
She has the same opinion as yourself of these vagabonds of Egypt, who play the tambourine and tell fortunes to the public.
They came to Reims to tell fortunes in the name of the King of Algiers, and the Emperor of Germany.
Notre Dame de Paris
She resembled a low-class medium or one of those women who tell fortunes by cards for half a crown.
The Shadow Line
My grandmother knew how to tell fortunes by putting down cards and when the Russian women heard of her talent, they queued to have their cards read.
TALE OF SURVIVAL AGAINST ALL ODDS; Cabbage saved Lidia and family after deportation to -45degF Siberian winter
I ask, Didn't the woman who lived there then tell fortunes?
I'm the Sister Who Stands in Front of Houses
Do you read cards and tell fortunes? I need your help!
Is it morally wrong to consult a fortuneteller?
"If you had been able to tell fortunes you would have been able to tell that you would have been here today," laughed Magistrate Steward, before fining her forty shillings plus costs.
Fortune-teller could not predict her own fate; DAN LONGMAN UNCOVERS A CASE OF FRAUD IN EDWARDIAN LIVERPOOL
Such conjunctions had significance to astrologers - trying to tell fortunes based on the planet's motions - so may have been seen as important to the Magi.
Shedding light on star of Bethlehem
I can't tell fortunes, so I'll have to wait and see how they will play first ...
Fifa World Cup Brazil 2014: Argentina game 50-50, luck to play a part, says Van Gaal
The Runes never tell fortunes, nor do they predict future events.
Ralph Blum's Bestselling The Book of Runes is Now Available as an E-Book and Interactive Web App
The parrot spoke some Yiddish and knew enough Italian to tell fortunes. So I reasoned that if the fortune-teller could be in the Italian part of Harlem for one week, he could be in the rest of Harlem at other times, so that's where Solly came from.
Children's book author interview: Gail Carson Levine
In Sibat's case, the charges seem to center on a call-in talk show he hosted on a Lebanese satellite station where he would tell fortunes and give advice.
Psychic's wife appeals for husband's release from Saudi Arabia
Some Iranian fortune-tellers predict the future based on Tarot card readings while others tell fortunes by looking at the coffee dregs, which remain at the bottom of thick Turkishstyle coffee.
Iranian fortune tellers now enjoying very good fortune
Cute Sak can record secrets, tell fortunes and compliment her friends.
GADGETS & STUFF; picks the best of the new high-tech products