death knell

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Alternative spellings 1.2 Noun 1.2.1 Translations

[edit] English

[edit] Alternative spellings

• death-knell

[edit] Noun

death knell (plural death knells)

1. The tolling of a bell announcing death.
   • 1873, Thomas Hardy, A Pair of Blue Eyes, ch. 25:

     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.

2. (idiomatic, by extension) A sign or omen foretelling the death or destruction of something.
   • 1901, Upton Sinclair, King Midas, ch. 10:

     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.

[edit] Translations