- Anobium tessellatum
- Deathwatch Death"watch` (?; 224), n.
1. (Zo["o]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[ae]},
which makes a similar but fainter sound; -- called
also {deathtick}.
[1913 Webster]
She is always seeing apparitions and hearing deathwatches. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
I did not hear the dog howl, mother, or the deathwatch beat. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
2. The guard set over a criminal before his execution. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.