deathwatch
(det̸h′wäc̸h′)
noun
- a vigil kept beside a dead or dying person
- a guard set over a person soon to be executed
- any of various insects, esp. any of a family (Anobiidae) of wood-burrowing beetles whose heads make a tapping sound superstitiously regarded as an omen of death
See deathwatch in American Heritage Dictionary 4
noun- A vigil kept beside a dying or dead person.
- One who guards a condemned person before execution.
- A deathwatch beetle.
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