passing bell
Funeral church chime
A passing bell is a bell tolled to announce that someone is dying or has just died.
Historically, it served both to call the community to prayer for the departing soul and to ward off evil spirits.
The term now appears mostly in literary or historical contexts: The passing bell tolled across the village.
Solemn bell stroke
- death knellOmen of ending
- tollFee for passage
- requiemMass for the deceased
- last ritesSacrament for the dying
pallbearer · hearse · cortege · interment · burial · coffin · casket · shroud
Tribute for the dead
- elegyPoem lamenting the departed
- dirgeMournful commemorative music
- threnodyMemorial song of grief
- lamentationPassionate expression of grief
remembrance · commemoration · tribute · homage · epitaph · memorial · in memoriam · valediction
Cessation of life
- dyingCeasing to live
- finalityState of conclusive completion
- endFinal portion or cessation
- closureSense of emotional resolution
inevitable · transience · impermanence · last breath · departure · crossing over · threshold · soul
knell
Solemn bell stroke
- death knellOmen of ending
- tollFee for passage
- requiemMass for the deceased
last rites · pallbearer · hearse · cortege · interment · burial · coffin · casket · shroud · wake
toll
Fee for passage
ring · knell · resonate · reverberate · echo · solemn · muffled · slow · measured · mournful
eulogy
Tribute for the dead
lamentation · remembrance · commemoration · tribute · homage · epitaph · memorial · in memoriam · valediction · farewell
death
Cessation of life
closure · inevitable · transience · impermanence · last breath · departure · crossing over · threshold · soul · eternal rest
- funeral musicdirge, requiem, funeral march, funeral hymns, death march
- send-offssend-off, farewell party, going away party, goodbye party, farewell ceremony