Threaten

(thrĕt/n), v. t. [imp. & p. p. THREATENED; p. pr. & vb. n. THREATENING.] [A-S. thrēatian, to urge, threaten, Icel. threyta, to weary, Sw. trötta, Dan. trätte, to tire, harass, Sw. träta, to quarrel, contest; O. D. droten, to threaten; O. H. Ger. driuzan, driozan, to vex; M. H. Ger. driezen, O. Ger. driezen, triezen, d retzen, to vex; N. H. Ger. verdriezen, to grieve, vex, Goth. thriutan, usthriutan, id. Cf. THREAP.]

1Sense 1. To hold up to, as a terror, the expectation of evil; to alarm with the promise of evil; to menace.

Let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. Acts iv. 17.

Each moment threatens life or death. Shak.

2Sense 2. To exhibit the appearance of something evil or unpleasant as approaching to or toward; as, the clouds threaten us with rain or a storm.

Synonyms— To menace. — THREATEN, MENACE. Threaten is Anglo-Saxon, and menace is Latin. As often happens, the former is the more familiar term; the latter is employed only in the higher classes of style. We are threatened with a drought; the country is menaced with war. We may be threatened with either small or great evils; but we are menaced only with great evils. One individual threatens to strike another; a general menaces the enemy with an attack. We are threatened by things as well as persons, but are menaced by persons commonly; a person is threatened with a look; he is menaced with a prosecution by his adversary. Crabb.

By turns put on the suppliant and the lord: Threatened this moment, and the next implored. Prior.

Of the sharp ax Regardless, that o'er his devoted head Hangs menacing. Somerville.