impend

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to be imminent or about to happen, especially as a threat or danger

   With another storm impending, the crew secured every loose object on deck.

2. 2
   verb

   to hang or be suspended over something; archaic

   A stone balcony impended over the narrow street below.

Borrowed from Latin impendere, 'hang over; be imminent,' from in- ('upon, toward') + pendere ('hang'). The physical image of something suspended overhead produced the now dominant figurative sense of an event, usually unwelcome, about to occur.

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