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ar at hand; to menace; to be imminent. See Imminent. Destruction sure o'er all your heads impends. Pope.

The state of impending; also, that which impends. "Impendence of volcanic cloud." Ruskin.

Impending; threatening. Impendent horrors, threatening hideous fall. Milton.

Hanging over; overhanging; suspended so as to menace; imminet; threatening. An impending brow. Hawthorne. And nodding Ilion waits th' impending fall. Pope.

To impend. [Obs.] Shak.

Great fear in view of impending evil; fearful apprehension of danger; anticipatory terror. The secret dread of divine displeasure. Tillotson. The dread of something after death. Shak.

To free from an impending obligation or duty; hence, to disengage; to dispense with; to release by favor; also, to remit by favor; not to exact; as, to excuse a forfeiture. I pray thee have me excused. xiv. 19.

A painful emotion or passion excited by the expectation of evil, or the apprehension of impending danger; apprehension; anxiety; solicitude; alarm; dread.

To hover; to impend; to appear threateningly; -- usually with over; as, evils hang over the country.

That which is imminent; impending evil or danger. "But dare all imminence." Shak.

Threatening to occur immediately; near at hand; impending; -- said especially of misfortune or peril. "In danger imminent." Spenser.

Closely pressing or impending in respect to time; not deferred; immediate; without delay. Impending death is thine, and instant doom. Prior.

To hang over like a brow; to impend over. [Poetic] Longfellow. Did with a huge projection overbrow Large space beneath. Wordsworth.

To impend or hang over. [R.] Beau. & Fl.

To project or impend over threateningly. His louering brows o'erwhelming his fair sight. Shak.

the safety of; to preserve from injury, destruction, or evil of any kind; to rescue from impending danger; as, to save a house from the flames. God save all this fair company. Chaucer. He cried, saying, Lord, save me. Matt. xiv. 30. Thou hast . . . quitted all to save A world from utter loss. Milton.…

nt. Massinger. Shadow of death, darkness or gloom like that caused by the presence or the impending of death. Ps. xxiii. 4.

o exhibit the appearance of (something evil or unpleasant) as approaching; to indicate as impending; to announce the conditional infliction of; as, to threaten war; to threaten death. Milton. The skies look grimly And threaten present blusters. Shak.