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

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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

Shakespeare’s universal observation led him to make use of the melancholy meaning of the death bell.

From Old Church Lore by William Andrews

Each stifled sigh sounded in his ear as a death bell; and each tender glance carried a point keener than the lightning's fork.

From The Life of Benjamin Franklin With Many Choice Anecdotes and admirable sayings of this great man never before published by any of his biographers by Mason Locke Weems

Short yelps of hungry exultation broke from their dry throats; it was like the tolling of a death bell; first one and then the other, "Oo-oo-ooh-ooh!"

From The Outcasts by Arthur Henry Howard Heming

The Curfew Bell is rung, and not tolled, as Reginald states: therefore, what he heard, I suppose to have been the death bell.

From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 19, No. 545, May 5, 1832 by Various

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