ppl. a. [f. prec. + -ED1.]
1. That is the object of a threat; assailed by menaces, Proverb Threatened men live long.
1533. Lady Eliz. Wheathell, in Mary A. E. Wood, Lett. Roy. & Illustr. Ladies (1846), II. 91. There is an old saying,—‘threatened men live long.’
a. 1642. Sir W. Monson, Naval Tracts, II. (1704), 287/1. It is an old Saying, That a threaten’d Man eats Bread.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xx. IV. 401. He took his post near Louvain, on the road between the two threatened cities.
1894. Westm. Gaz., 27 Nov., 5/3. The best-hated and the most threatened man in Germany.
2. Of evil: Held out or presented as impending.
1567. Golding, Ovid’s Met., VI. (1593), 129. Neptunus standing striking with his long threatned blade Upon the ragged rocke.
1660. South, Interest Deposed (title-p.), In the threatned and expected Ruin of the Laws.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxxi. She determined to brave the threatened vengeance.
1831. Scott, Ct. Robt., xxiv. The Turks … had resolved to prevent the threatened attack of the crusaders.
