work the oracle

English

work the oracle (third-person singular simple present works the oracle, present participle working the oracle, simple past and past participle worked the oracle)

(dated, informal) To manipulate circumstances to one's personal advantage.
- 1901, Henry James, The Papers:
  You've thought there were some high souls that didn't do it—that wouldn't, I mean, to work the oracle, lift a little finger of their own. But, Lord bless you, give them a chance—you'll find some of the greatest the greediest.
- 1906, John Strange Winter, A Simple Gentleman:
  "You must work the oracle." said Lettice smiling at him. / And John Valentine did work the oracle to such good purpose that when, two days later, the brother and sister went to London for ten days, John Valentine went with them.
- 1910, Walter Arnold Mursell, Two on a Tour:
  It is his glowing eye and ingenuous smile that works the oracle, I fancy.
- 1917, C. J. Dennis, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke:
  O' course we worked the oricle; you bet! / But, 'Struth, I ain't recovered frum it yet!
(UK, law enforcement slang) To fabricate a suspect's verbal statement.
- 2006, Thomas Barker, Police Ethics: Crisis in Law Enforcement, page 90:
  Holdaway reports that procedural rules are often considered irrelevant by the British police as they go about their daily duties. The occupational culture of the British police condones the use of “verbals” or “working the oracle.”

(manipulate circumstances): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary
(fabricate suspect's statement): Tony Thorne (2014) “work the oracle”, in Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, 4th edition, London, : Bloomsbury