threaten

threaten, v.
  (ˈθrɛt(ə)n)
  Forms: 1 þreatnian, 3 þret(t)ne(n, þretni, 4–5 þret(t)en, 4–6 threten, thretne, 6 thretten, Sc. threiten, (6–8 thretn-), 6– threaten.
  [OE. þréat-n-ian, f. þréat, threat n. + -en⁵ 2.]
  † 1. trans. To press, urge, force; = threat v.¹ 1. Only in OE.

c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 424 Neadað se deofol eow þæt ᵹe cristene men to his biᵹgengum ðreatniað?

  2. a. To try to influence (a person) by menaces; to utter or hold out a threat against; to declare (usually conditionally) one's intention of inflicting injury upon (in quot. 1816, one's certainty that some specified injury will fall upon); to menace. Const. with the thing; also with compl. clause (with finite vb. or inf.).

c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 35/41 He þrettnede faste hermogenes. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2391 Þe picars were wroþe ek & þretnede him ynou. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 419 Alisaundre þretteneþ þe Iewes. 14.. Sir Beues 3341 (MS. N.) He me thretenyd for to slen. [15.. Ibid. (Pynson) 3001 He threteneth me to be slayne.] 1474 Caxton Chesse ii. v. (1883) 68 A tyrant dide do tormente Anamaximenes & thretenyd hym for to cutte of his tonge. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 177 b, Traian commaunded hym to speke no more of it, thretnynge hym, that yf he dyd, he sholde lese his heed. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxxi. 186 Threatning them with Punishment. 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. iv. (1841) I. 83, I won't be threatened neither. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xliv, In vain his wife..hung by his skirts, threatening him with death..for meddling with other folks' matters. 1834 Picture of Liverpool 39 All classes were threatened to be overwhelmed in one universal ruin.

  † b. To charge or command with threats of punishment or displeasure; to command sternly or strictly. (Chiefly in biblical versions.) Obs.

1382 Wyclif Mark viii. 30 And he thretenyde hem, that thei schulden nat seie to ony man of him. 1526 Tindale Acts iv. 17 Lett vs threten and chaurge them that they speake hence forth to noo man in this name. 1555 Eden Decades 158 They..threatned them to auoyde the lande excepte they woolde bee distroyed euery manne. 1582 N. T. (Rhem.) Mark i. 25 And Iesvs threatened him, saying, Hold thy peace, and goe out of the man.

  c. fig. (chiefly of impersonal agents or objects): To be likely to injure; to be a source of danger to; to endanger actively.

1638 R. Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II.) 34 Perhaps the tempest that threatens my head will fall but at my feet. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 302 The wind..blew very hard, threatening us with a storm. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xix. II. 139 The Persian monarch, elated by victory, again threatened the peace of Asia. 1835 Thirlwall Greece x. I. 381 Where one threatens the existence of another. 1877 Froude Short Stud. (1883) IV. i. ii. 23 France and England had been..drawn together by a special danger which threatened Christendom.

  3. To hold out or offer (some injury) by way of a threat; to declare one's intention of inflicting. a. with infin. or clause as obj.

1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11209 Þe burgeis were þo bolde, & þretnede to nime mo. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. vi. 71 The Propheit threitnit..That war and battell sould his land pas throw. 1649 Bp. Reynolds Serm. Hosea iv. 59 God threatneth terribly to shake the earth. 1682 Bunyan Holy War 49 They threatned also what men they would be. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. iii. 146 Threatning to murder all who should oppose them. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi. IV. 663 He was at last forced to threaten that he would immediately make the whole matter public.

  b. with n. or pron. as obj.

1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 9383 Mid word he þretneþ muche & lute deþ in dede. c 1450 R. Gloucester's Chron. (1724) 483/1 note (MS. Coll. Arms), He meketh prout men, and he thretneth werre. 1590 Marlowe 2nd Pt. Tamburl. v. iii, These cowards..threaten conquest on our sovereign. 1649 Bp. Reynolds Serm. Hosea i. 43 They..should unwillingly suffer what he threatneth. 1774 Burke Corr. (1844) I. 498 The party that has lost the election threatens a petition. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India ii. xii. II. 585 Reluctant to inflict the penalty that had been threatened.

  4. fig. Of things, conditions: To give ominous indication of (impending evil); to presage, portend.

1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iii. iii. 4 The skies looke grimly, And threaten present blusters. 1644 Evelyn Diary 22 Oct., Another pendant Towre like that at Pisa, always threatning ruine. 1818–20 E. Thompson tr. Cullen's Nosol. Method. (ed. 3) 247 A sense of hunger threatening syncope. 1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting viii. 339 The weather constantly threatens rain.

intr. (for pass.) 1850 D. G. Mitchell Reveries Bachelor 175 Hostilities would sometimes threaten between the school and village boys.

  b. with infin.: To appear likely to do some evil.

1780 Mirror No. 81 ¶9, I am sometimes..frightened with dangers that threaten to diminish it [my estate]. 1848 Dickens Dombey iv, It threatens to be wet to night. 1899 ‘A. Hope’ King's Mirr. ix, Age had not bent, but it threatened to break him. Mod. The new drainage scheme threatens to be an expensive undertaking.

  5. absol. or intr. To utter or use threats; to declare one's intention of injuring or punishing in order to influence. a. lit. (absol. use of 2 or 3).

1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 10308 Nou sir clerc quaþ þe king ȝe mowe þretni ynou. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. xviii. 86 Þou shalt not þreten euerlastingly. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. iv. 57 An eye like Mars, to threaten or command. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VII. 221 If too closely pursued, they [snakes] hiss and threaten. 1864 in Ellacombe Ch. Bells Devon, etc. (1872) 267 Do not threaten,..never let down your dignity by one single word of violence.

  b. fig. (absol. use of 2 c or 4). To portend evil.

1610 Shakes. Temp. v. i. 178 Though the Seas threaten they are mercifull. 1725 Pope Odyss. ii. 6 A two-edged faulchion threatened by his side. 1793 Mann in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 437 Our political horizon blackens and threatens more and more. Mod. The weather threatens.

  ¶ 6. to threaten kindness (upon a person): app. an altered form of the phrase to threap kindness: see threap v. 4 b. Obs.

1560 J. Daus Sleidane's Comm. 247 The byshop of Rome sendeth his letters to the Swisses, & threatning vpon them kindnes, for the frenship that had ben betwene them & his predecessours. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. (1807) II. 249 The moonks being overcome with the kings words, threatning kindnesse upon them, fulfilled his request. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 84 Philautus..threatneth such kindenesse at my handes, and suche curtesie at yours, that he shoulde accompt me his wife before he woe me.

  7. In weakened use: to express an intention to do something, not necessarily evil.

1925 Dialect Notes V. 344 Threaten, v.i., promise; as, he threatened to give me money. 1928 A. Huxley Let. 1 May (1969) 296 [He] was lunching here today and broached a notion about a preliminary limited edition... He threatens to come and talk to you about it.

  Hence ˈthreatenable a., that may be threatened.

1841–4 Emerson Ess., Exper. Wks. (Bohn) I. 186 The chagrins which the bad heart gives off..take form..and threaten or insult whatever is threatenable and insultable in us.

Oxford English Dictionary