Definition of "forebode"

forebode

/fɔːˈbəʊd/

verb
third-person singular simple present forebodes, present participle foreboding, simple past and past participle foreboded
1. To predict a future event; to hint at something that will happen (especially as a literary device).
  Quotations
  There can be, if I forebode aright, no power, short of the Divine mercy, to disclose, whether by uttered words, or by type or emblem, the secrets that may be buried with a human heart.
  1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields
2. To be prescient of (some ill or misfortune); to have an inward conviction of, as of a calamity which is about to happen; to augur despondingly.
  Quotations
  Sullen, desponding, and foreboding nothing but wars and desolation, as the certain consequence of Caesar's death.
  1741, Conyers Middleton, Life of Cicero
  Here sits he shaping wings to fly: / His heart forebodes a mystery: / He names the name Eternity.
  1833–1834 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “The Two Voices”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, page 135
  Walter was disturbed by a low rap at the door. It was so indistinct and hesitating, that, at first, he thought himself mistaken; a second summons, however, led him to rise and open to his visitor. It was the very person that he foreboded—Mr. Curl.
  1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXI, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], page 160
noun
1. (obsolete) prognostication; presage

Definition of "forebode"

forebode

verb

Quotations

Quotations

noun