tocsin
/ˈtɒksɪn
/noun archaic
An alarm bell or signal: he used his resignation as a tocsin to warn of the danger of dictatorship...
- And while tocsins sounded all over Paris, the dead were carted through the Saint-Antoine district, accompanied by witnesses to the massacre shouting ‘Vengeance!’
- Some, whether religious or liberal-humanist, have sounded the tocsin so loudly that many governments have enacted or revived laws which penalise the vilification of religion, especially Islam.
- It is built around the word that rings like a tocsin repeatedly through the piece: materialism.
Origin
Late 16th century: from Old French toquassen, from Provençal tocasenh, from tocar 'to touch' + senh 'signal bell'.