PORTENDING

Verb

portending

present participle of portend

Anagrams

• protending

Source: Wiktionary

PORTEND

Por*tend", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Portended; p. pr. & vb. n. Portending.] Etym: [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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition