lowering

Etymology 1

c. 1600, "descend, sink, grow less or lower" (intransitive), from lower (adj.), comparative of low (adj.). Transitive meaning "let down, cause to descend" attested from 1650s. Related: Lowered; lowering. In the transitive sense "to cause to descend" the older verb was low. From Middle English lahghenn, (c. 1200), which continued in use into the 18c.

verb

1. present participle and gerund of lower
   Ahead of us the lowering smoke-screen of Leeds and her gloomy satellites hung like an incubus over the land. 1949 March and April, F. G. Roe, “I Saw Three Englands–2”, in Railway Magazine, page 82

noun

1. The act of something being lowered.

Etymology 2

From Middle English louryng, louringe, lowrynge, later variant of lourand, lowrand, lourande, lowrande, equivalent to lour + -ing. Cognate with Dutch loerend (“lurking, louring”).

adj

1. (of sky or environment) Dark and menacing.
   The morning had been intensely hot, with but little wind; and the lowering gloomy aspect of the clouds appeared to indicate the approach of one of those sudden gales peculiar to tropical climates, and which, although of short duration, are generally productive of mischief. 1827, Anonymus, Two Years in Ava from May 1824 to May 1826, page 17
   The wide prospect up stream was grey and lowering, the long still-distant waterfront of Dundee, and the Fife shore were alike colourless, and there was ample evidence of rough weather not far ahead. 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 7
   Ahead of us the lowering smoke-screen of Leeds and her gloomy satellites hung like an incubus over the land. 1949 March and April, F. G. Roe, “I Saw Three Englands–2”, in Railway Magazine, page 82
   Jon crossed the pass into Glen Maraich in a stinging flurry of sleet, heading down between dark walls of rock under a lowering sky. 2013, Alexandra Raife, A Question Of Trust
   Bleak fields stretched to the horizon beneath lowering clouds. 2014, Nancy Atherton, Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin
2. That lowers or frowns.
   One glance sufficed to identify the intruder, for none but he could boast of such a dark, lowering countenance ; and all exclaimed in mingled wonder and terror at his unwonted presence in those sunlit regions: 2012, H. A. Guerber, The Myths of Greece and Rome
   A kind of dark pallor lent him a ghostly appearance in the uncertain light, an effect heightened by the satanic darkness of his lowering brows. 2013, Robert E Howard, Red Shadows
   The Countess had liked Elsa from the first moment when she saw her, ragged, unkempt and forlorn, among the lowering, suspicious men-at-arms in the courtyard, and now that she knew the dangers and the privations the girl had braved for the sake of Wilhelm, the affectionate heart of Beatrix found ample room for the motherless Elsa. 2014, Robert Barr, The Strong Arm: And Other Stories, page 64
   Crequy, for several moments, appeared not to have heard. His face became more lowering. 2018, Taylor Caldwell, The Arm and the Darkness
3. Lurking, skulking, menacing.
   Klimov put on his greatcoat mechanically and left the train, and he felt as though it were not himself walking, but some one else, a stranger, and he felt that he was accompanied by the heat of the train, his thirst, and the ominous, lowering figures which all night long had prevented his sleeping. 1887, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Typhus
   They might have stayed until dusk, undisturbed by Schmidt's casual customers, had it not been for the entrance of three grimy and lowering men. 1906, The Saturday Evening Post - Volume 178, page 14
   The outsize nature of Norse mythological characters is well noted in Caselli's dramatic close-ups, in which the powerful, lowering figures of Odin or Thor are backed by ice and rock, massive trolls, gigantic eagles and wolves. 1976, Growing Point - Volumes 15-18, page 3457

noun

1. Alternative form of louring.