a ball of clear crystal, glass, or the like, used in crystal gazing.
2.
a method or means of predicting the future.
Origin
1850-55
Examples from the web for crystal ball
Scientists don't need a crystal ball to predict these events.
So attending a conference can be a way of looking into the crystal ball in your field to see what the future will bring.
He is not a prophet in the sense of peering into a crystal ball.
So you want to forecast everything, so why not give you a crystal ball too.
There is now an urgent need for a new look into the crystal ball of quantum physics.
But without a crystal ball, it couldn't have seen what was coming.
Our report is not meant to be an exercise in prediction or crystal ball-gazing.
Of course, no one has a crystal ball, and life has a way of throwing changes our way.
We will try to gaze into the crystal ball and predict some key issues that will drive reliability programs in the new millennium.
British Dictionary definitions for crystal ball
crystal ball
noun
1.
the glass globe used in crystal gazing
Idioms and Phrases with crystal ball
crystal ball
A means of predicting the future, as in So what does your crystal ball say about the coming election? The term is a figurative use of the crystal or glass ball used by fortune-tellers. [ c. 1900 ]