- impend (v.)
- "be about to happen" (usually of something unwanted), 1590s, from Latin impendere "to hang over;" figuratively "to be imminent, be near," from assimilated form of in- "into, in, on, upon" (see in- (2)) + pendere "hang" (see pendant). Literal sense in English is by 1780. Related: Impended; impending.