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portending |
1 definition found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Portend \Por*tend"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Portended}; p. pr & vb n. {Portending}.] [L. portendre portentum to foretell, to predict, to impend, from an old preposition used in comp. + tendere to stretch. See {Position}, {Tend}.] 1. To indicate (events, misfortunes, etc.) as in future; to foreshow; to foretoken; to bode; -- now used esp. of unpropitious signs. --Bacon. Many signs portended a dark and stormy day --Macaulay. 2. To stretch out before [R.] ``Doomed to feel the great Idomeneus' portended steel.'' --Pope. Syn: To foreshow; foretoken; betoken; forebode; augur; presage; foreshadow; threaten.
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