Definitions for: Portend

[v] indicate by signs; "These signs bode bad news"

Webster (1913) Definition: 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.

Synonyms: augur, auspicate, betoken, bode, forecast, foreshadow, foretell, omen, predict, prefigure, presage, prognosticate

See Also: bespeak, foreshow, indicate, point, signal, threaten

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