deathwatches
Final hours attendance
Deathwatches are vigils kept beside a dying or dead person.
The word also names small wood-boring beetles whose tapping sounds were once thought to presage death—the quiet of a sickroom made the noise audible, reinforcing the superstition.
The family kept deathwatch through the night.
Six-legged invertebrate
- woodwormTimber-eating beetle larva
- larvaeImmature metamorphosing creatures
- borerTunneling tool or insect
- infestationPest takeover situation
timber · furniture · ticking · clicking · pest · decay · hardwood · softwood
insect
Six-legged invertebrate
- woodwormTimber-eating beetle larva
- larvaeImmature metamorphosing creatures
- borerTunneling tool or insect
infestation · timber · furniture · ticking · clicking · pest · decay · hardwood · softwood · tunnelling
foreboding
Fearful anticipation of harm
- superstitionBaseless belief in omens
- portentSign of future calamity
- tickingRhythmic mechanical sound
clicking · premonition · folklore · harbinger · dread · fate · warning · sign · belief · legend
bedside
Near the mattress
hospice · candle · prayer · family · deathbed · passing · attendance · watch · nightlong · sitting
deathwatcheslying-in
Childbirth recuperation period
christenings · baptisms · baby showers · birth announcements · naming ceremonies
deathwatchescelebrations
Organized expressions of joy
birthday parties · jubilees · festivities · revelries · homecomings
- deathwatch beetleFurniture-damaging borer