death bell

American  

noun

1. the bell that announces a death.

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Etymology

Origin of death bell

First recorded in 1730–40

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

death bell

Gitl began reciting the Kaddish, rocking back and forth on the sleeping shelf with the sonorous words, and the prayer was like the tolling of a death bell.

From "The Devil's Arithmetic" by Jane Yolen

She came and said to him, "My Edwin, live for me;" but on her way home she heard the death bell toll.

From Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

And still, like the tolling of a death bell above the city's life, two thoughts beat on his mind again and again, and gave him intolerable pain.

From The Great House by Stanley John Weyman

Thus the death bell at Axbridge, Somerset, states, For homesoever this bell doth toll The Lord have mercy on that sole!

From Curious Church Customs and Cognate Subjects by William Andrews

Had her condition far exceeded all Your seeming tender fears; or did I hear The peal of her death bell, I shou'd not wonder.

From The Female Gamester A Tragedy by Gorges Edmond Howard