The Collaborative International Dictionary
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.]
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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. -
To stretch out before. [R.] ``Doomed to feel the great Idomeneus' portended steel.''
--Pope.Syn: To foreshow; foretoken; betoken; forebode; augur; presage; foreshadow; threaten.
Wiktionary
vb. (present participle of portend English)
Usage examples of "portending".
Clouds were gathering, portending another storm, but as yet many stars were to be seen, and some were falling.
No matter how supportive Chief Judge Winchell was, the law required probable cause, reliable evidence portending this supposedly corrupt encounter, before a bug could be authorized.