menace
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
menace
n 1: something that is a source of danger; "earthquakes are a
constant threat in Japan" [syn: {menace}, {threat}]
2: a threat or the act of threatening; "he spoke with desperate
menace"
v 1: pose a threat to; present a danger to; "The pollution is
endangering the crops" [syn: {endanger}, {jeopardize},
{jeopardise}, {menace}, {threaten}, {imperil}, {peril}]
2: express a threat either by an utterance or a gesture; "he
menaced the bank manager with a stick"
3: act in a threatening manner; "A menacing person"
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Menace \Men"ace\ (m[e^]n"[asl]s; 48), n. [F., fr. L. minaciae
threats, menaces, fr. minax, -acis, projecting, threatening,
minae projecting points or pinnacles, threats. Cf.
{Amenable}, {Demean}, {Imminent}, {Minatory}.]
The show of an intention to inflict evil; a threat or
threatening; indication of a probable evil or catastrophe to
come.
[1913 Webster]
His (the pope's) commands, his rebukes, his menaces.
--Milman.
[1913 Webster]
The dark menace of the distant war. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Menace \Men"ace\ (m[e^]n"[asl]s; 48), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
{Menaced} ([=a]st); p. pr. & vb. n. {Menacing}.] [OF.
menacier, F. menacer. See {Menace}, n.]
1. To express or show an intention to inflict, or to hold out
a prospect of inflicting, evil or injury upon; to
threaten; -- usually followed by with before the harm
threatened; as, to menace a country with war.
[1913 Webster]
My master . . . did menace me with death. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. To threaten, as an evil to be inflicted.
[1913 Webster]
By oath he menaced
Revenge upon the cardinal. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
MENACE. A threat; a declaration of an intention to cause evil to happen to
another.
2. When menaces to do an injury to another have been made, the party
making them may, in general, be held to bail to keep the peace; and, when
followed by any inconvenience or loss, the injured party has a civil action
against the wrong doer. Com. Dig. Battery, D; Vin. Ab. h.t.; Bac. Ab.
Assault; Co. Litt. 161 a, 162 b, 253 b; 2 Lutw. 1428. Vide Threat.
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
146 Moby Thesaurus words for "menace":
abuse, afflict, aggrieve, alarm, apprehend, approach, await,
be imminent, be in store, befoul, bewitch, blight, bludgeon, bode,
breakers ahead, brew, bulldoze, bulldozing, bully, cardhouse,
cause for alarm, come on, comminate, commination, compromise,
condemn, confront, corrupt, cow, crisis, croak, crucify, curse,
damage, danger, dangerous ground, daunt, defile, denounce,
denunciation, deprave, despoil, destroy, disadvantage, disserve,
distress, do a mischief, do evil, do ill, do wrong, do wrong by,
doom, draw near, draw nigh, draw on, emergency, empty threat,
endanger, endangerment, envenom, face, forebode, foreboding,
forewarn, forthcome, frighten, gaping chasm, gather,
gathering clouds, get into trouble, hang over, harass, harm,
have a premonition, have a presentiment, hazard, hex,
house of cards, hover, hurt, idle threat, imminence, impair,
impend, imperil, imperilment, implied threat, infect, injure,
intimidate, intimidation, jeopard, jeopardize, jeopardy, jinx,
lie over, look black, look threatening, loom, lower, maltreat,
mistreat, molest, near, outrage, overhang, pass, peril, persecute,
pinch, play havoc with, play hob with, plight, poison, pollute,
portend, preapprehend, predicament, prejudice, promise of harm,
quicksand, risk, rocks ahead, savage, scare, scathe, storm clouds,
strait, sword of Damocles, taint, terrify, terrorize, thin ice,
threat, threaten, threateningness, threatfulness, torment, torture,
utter threats against, violate, warn, warning, wound,
wreak havoc on, wrong
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