WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Por*tend"
Part of Speech : v.
Etymology : [L. portendre, portentum, to foretell, to predict, to impend, from an old preposition used in comp. + tendere to stretch. See Position, Tend.]
Definition : 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.

t. [imp. & p. p. Portended; p. pr. & vb. n. Portending.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913