| 释义 |
death-watch|ˈdɛθwɒtʃ|
Also 8 dead-.
1. The popular name of various insects which make a noise like the ticking of a watch, supposed by the ignorant and superstitious to portend death; esp. the death watch beetle, Xestobium rufovillosum, or Trogium pulsatorium, a book louse of the order Psocoptera.
1668Wilkins Real Char. ii. v. §2. 127 Sheathed Winged Insects..That of a long slender body, frequent about houses, making a noise like the minute of a Watch..Death Watch. 1700J. A. Astry tr. Saavedra-Faxardo II. 385 The Death-watch Spiders spread their curious Hair. 1762Goldsm. Cit. W. xc, I listened for death-watches in the wainscot. 1817Kirby & Spence Introd. Ent. II. xxiv. 383 A little wood-louse..—which on that account has been confounded with the death-watch—is said also..to emit a ticking noise. 1828Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 272 Both sexes, in the season of love, have the habit of calling one another by striking rapidly with their mandibles on the wood..This noise, similar to the accelerated beating of a watch, has occasioned..the vulgar name of Death-watch. 1877Encycl. Brit. VI. 132/2 Many of the Malacodermata are wood-borers; these include the Death-watch Beetles (Anobium). 1881Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fleet I. 294 Last night I heard the death-watch. 1925E. G. Blake Enemies of Timber vi. 136 The death-watch beetle..confines its activities exclusively to structural timbers, and is practically identical in its methods and habits with the common furniture beetle. 1955Times 9 May 5/2 The death-watch beetle did not attack sound and permanently dry timber. 1964N. E. Hickin Household Insect Pests v. 56 One interesting habit shown by the species Trogium pulsatorium is the tapping noise which it produces by vibrating its abdomen against a material such as paper. It is probable that the first reference to the ‘Death Watch’ concerned this Book Louse and not the wood-boring beetle. 1969R. F. Chapman Insects xxviii. 575 The death watch beetle, Xestobium, produces tapping sounds by bending its head down and banging it against the floor of its burrow.
comb.1710E. Ward Brit. Hud. 60 Thy Melancholy Tick, That sounds, alas, so Death-watch like.
2. A watch or vigil by the dead or dying. |