deathwatch beetleとは

意味・読み方・使い方

別の表記

• death-watch beetle

語源

Compound of death +‎ watch +‎ beetle. The sound the beetles make is said to resemble a ticking watch, and is sometimes believed to herald death. Attested (as death watch) from the late 17th century.

名詞

deathwatch beetle (複数形 deathwatch beetles)

1. Any of various beetles of the family Anobiidae, especially Xestobium rufovillosum, that bore into wood and make a tapping sound.
   • 1819, John Mason Good, Olinthus Gregory, and Newton Bosworth, Pantologia. A New Cabinet Cyclopedia‎^[1], page 38:

     And chambermaids christen this worm a death-watch:
     Because like a watch it always cries click;
     Then woe to those in the house who are sick,

   • 1895, J. Hautenville Cope, “The death watch beetle”, in The Berks, Bucks & Oxon Archæological Journal, page 85:

     A very deadly enemy to woodwork in churches and other buildings is the creature known as the Death Watch beetle (anobium tessellatum, または rufovillosum).

名詞

death-watch beetle (複数形 death-watch beetles)

1. A woodboring beetle, namely a beetle whose larvae are xylophagous.
   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty, New York: Bloomsbury, OCLC 1036692193:

     Of course they had death-watch beetle at Noseley Abbey.