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

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

No more the rolling flood’s at his controul, Nor willing servant runs when he shall bid; But mournfully I hear the death bell toll, To hail him welcome to his lonely bed!

From Awd Isaac, The Steeple Chase, and other Poems With a glossary of the Yorkshire Dialect by Castillo, John

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 Heming, Arthur Henry Howard

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 Weems, Mason Locke

The jester, the black company and the penitents, together with the roysterers, form now the foreground, now the background, of action, which in itself is never without the dolorous sound of the death bell.

From Freedom, Truth and Beauty by Doyle, Edward