in Astrology, the degree or point of the heavens rising above the eastern point of the horizon at any given time when a prediction is to be made of a future event, as, the fortune of a person then born, the success of a design then laid, the weather, and so on. The word is composed of ὑπολογισμός, hora, hour, and the verb σκοπεῖν, video, I behold. Such was at one time the infatuation concerning horoscopes, that Albertus Magnus, Cardinal, and others, are said to have had the temerity to draw that of Jesus Christ.

Horoscope is also used for a scheme or figure of the twelve houses or signs of the zodiac, in which is marked the disposition of the heavens for any given time. Thus we say, to draw a horoscope, to construct a horoscope, and the like. Calculating a nativity, is when the life and fortune of a person are the subject of the prediction.