death rattle

American  

noun

1. a sound produced by a person immediately preceding death, resulting from the passage of air through the mucus in the throat.

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death rattle British  

noun

1. a low-pitched gurgling sound sometimes made by a dying person, caused by air passing through an accumulation of mucus in the trachea

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Etymology

Origin of death rattle

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

death rattle

“It’s hard not to see this as, like, the final death rattle of an era.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026

"At the end there can be a death rattle - a sound of hard breathing that can be frightening for people in the room," she says.

From BBC ● May 2, 2026

"This is the death rattle of a movement that just cannot adapt to a changing world and to a community that is saying, 'We're not hiding in the shadows anymore.'"

From Reuters ● Jul. 6, 2023

Our basement apartment had orange and yellow walls and a single window-mounted air-conditioner with a permanent death rattle.

From New York Times ● May 7, 2021

Boseman let out a mortifying gasp as they departed, which Cora took as his death rattle.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead