death knell
See also: death-knell
English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
death knell (plural death knells)
- The tolling of a bell announcing death.
- 1873, Thomas Hardy, chapter 25, in A Pair of Blue Eyes:
- The sound was the stroke of a bell from the tower of East Endelstow Church. . . . The death-knell of an inhabitant of the eastern parish was being tolled.
- 1890, Ambrose Bierce, chapter 1, in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge:
- Its recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death-knell.
-
- (idiomatic, by extension) A sign or omen foretelling the death or destruction of something.
- 1901, Upton Sinclair, chapter 10, in King Midas:
- The thought was a death-knell to Helen's last hope.
- 2004, Jamie James, "The Rise of a Musical Superpower," Time, 28 June:
- "It is the death knell of an orchestra if it doesn't have its own home," he says.
-
Translations
tolling of a bell announcing death
|
sign foretelling the death or destruction of something
|
|
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.