deathwatch : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: deathwatch	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for deathwatch
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
deathwatch n minute wingless psocopterous insects injurious to books and papers Synonym(s): booklouse, book louse, deathwatch, Liposcelis divinatorius bores through wood making a ticking sound popularly thought to presage death Synonym(s): deathwatch beetle, deathwatch, Xestobium rufovillosum
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Deathwatch \Death"watch`\ (?; 224), n. 1. (Zo[94]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[91]}, 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.