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deathwatch |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Deathwatch \Death"watch`\ (?; 224), n. 1. (Zo["o]l.) a A small beetle ({Anobium tessellatum} and other allied species). By forcibly striking its head against woodwork it makes a ticking sound, which is a call of the sexes to each other but has been imagined by superstitious people to presage death. b A small wingless insect, of the family {Psocid[ae]}, which makes a similar but fainter sound; -- called also {deathtick}. She is always seeing apparitions and hearing deathwatches. --Addison. I did not hear the dog howl, mother, or the deathwatch beat --Tennyson. 2. The guard set over a criminal before his execution. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: deathwatch n 1: minute wingless psocopterous insects injurious to books and papers [syn: {booklouse}, {book louse}, {Liposcelis divinatorius}] 2: bores through wood making a ticking sound popularly thought to presage death [syn: {deathwatch beetle}, {Xestobium rufovillosum}]
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