Futurity

Charles's was just an exciting consciousness; and he paced the streets, sometimes roused into disdain of the busy and thoughtless crowd around, but oftener lost in gloomy dreams of that futurity whose depths he was so soon to explore.

Now instead of reversing the levers I had pulled them over so as to go forward with them, and when I came to look at these indicators I found that the thousands hand was sweeping round as fast as the seconds hand of a watch, into futurity.

[I]ts meaning is often tentative and fluctuates, but most often it indicates a level of uncertainty or doubt regarding futurity (”likely but not certain“)[.]

[…] on this perhaps, This peradventure, infamous for lies, As on a rock of adamant, we build Our mountain hopes; spin out eternal schemes, As we the fatal sisters could out-spin, And, big with life’s futurities, expire.