deathwatch Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun minute wingless psocopterous insects injurious to books and papers
    book louse; Liposcelis divinatorius; booklouse.
  2. noun bores through wood making a ticking sound popularly thought to presage death
    deathwatch beetle; Xestobium rufovillosum.

WordNet

Death"watch` noun
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) (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 Psocidæ, which makes a similar but fainter sound; -- called also deathtick.
    She is always seeing apparitions and hearing deathwatches. Addison.
    I did not hear the dog howl, mother, or the deathwatch beat. Tennyson.
  2. The guard set over a criminal before his execution.

Webster 1913