Past tense of 'bode': to be a sign or warning that something (usually bad) will happen in the future.
From Old English 'bodian' meaning to foretell or announce, derived from 'boda' (messenger). The Germanic root suggests the original sense of receiving a message from the future.
When someone says 'it boded ill for our team,' they're using one of the oldest superstitions in language—the idea that present signs can actually read the future like a crystal ball.
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