Also 7 choschino-, cosino-, 7–8 coskino-, 9 koskino-. [ad. med.L. coscinomantia, f. Gr. κασκινόμαντις, f. κόσκινο-ν sieve: see -MANCY.] Divination by the turning of a sieve (held on a pair of shears, etc.).
1603. Sir C. Heydon, Jud. Astrol., xvii. 356. Comparing Astrologie with Aruspicie, Hydromancie, Chiromancie, Choschinomancie, and such like.
1653. H. More, Antid. Ath., III. ii. (1712), 89. Coskinomancy, or finding who stole or spoiled this or that thing by the Sieve and Shears.
1777. Brand, Pop. Antiq. (ed. Hazlitt), III. 301–2.
1871. Tylor, Prim. Cult., I. 116. The so-called coscinomancy, or, as it is described in Hudibras, ‘th’ oracle of sieve and shears, that turns as certain as the spheres.’
