noun
Meaning 1
A vigil beside a dying person
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
deathwatch
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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UK: /ˈdɛθwɒtʃ/
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Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: D EH1 TH W AA2 CH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
One who guards a condemned person before execution.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A deathwatch beetle.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
bores through wood making a ticking sound popularly thought to presage death
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: deathwatch beetle, Xestobium rufovillosum
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: beetle
noun
Meaning 5
minute wingless psocopterous insects injurious to books and papers
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: booklouse, book louse, Liposcelis divinatorius
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: psocopterous insect
Narrower terms: common booklouse, Trogium pulsatorium
History
Etymology
From death + watch.
Across languages
Translations
12 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: бдение при умиращ (bdenie pri umirašt) — a vigil beside a dying person
- Finnish: valvojaiset — a vigil beside a dying person
- Finnish: ruumiinvalvojaiset — a vigil beside a dying person
- German: Totenwache — a vigil beside a dying person
- Russian: дежу́рство у постели умершего (dežúrstvo u posteli umerševo) — a vigil beside a dying person
- Russian: бо́дрствование у постели умирающего (bódrstvovanije u posteli umirajuščevo) — a vigil beside a dying person
- Bulgarian: бръмбар-гробар (brǎmbar-grobar) — a deathwatch beetle
- Catalan: escarabat del rellotge de la mort — a deathwatch beetle
- Finnish: puunkaivaja — a deathwatch beetle
- Galician: couza — a deathwatch beetle
- Russian: точильщик пёстрый (točilʹščik pjóstryj) — a deathwatch beetle
- Russian: книжная вошь (knižnaja vošʹ) — a deathwatch beetle
Real reading context