Portend, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Portended; p. pr. & vb. n. Portending.]
Etymology: [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.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for portend; he lists it under augur.
Where he writes about it:
"Persons or things augur; persons only forebode or presage; things only betoken or portend." CRABB English Synonymes. — from augur
Dissipation among the officers and mutiny among the crew portend disaster. — from augur