Archaic term for divination or fortune-telling. In modern Japanese, 占い (うらない) is the common word. This sense is mostly encountered in historical or literary contexts, or in the compound 卜する (ぼくする).
See also: 卜する
In ancient China, they performed divination using turtle shells.
choosing; deciding
Rare, archaic sense of choosing or settling something, possibly by divination. This usage is not productive in modern Japanese and appears mainly in classical texts.
「卜する」は、占うという意味の古い言い方です。
卜する is an old way of saying 'to divine' or 'to tell fortunes'.
In old documents, you can see the expression 吉日を卜する, meaning to choose an auspicious day.
tortoise-shell divination
fortune teller; diviner
fortune-telling; divination; augury
deciding through tortoise-shell divination
choosing a homesite by divination
The kanji 卜 depicts a crack in a heated tortoise shell used for divination in ancient China. The Japanese reading ぼく is derived from the Chinese reading. The word is archaic and primarily survives in the compound 卜する.