deathwatch means A vigil beside a dying person. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 81 out of 100.
deathwatch is pronounced /ˈdɛθwɒtʃ/.
Why “deathwatch” is a great word
A vigil kept beside a dying or dead person, a guard over a condemned person before execution, or a beetle whose tapping sound was superstitiously linked to impending death. From death + watch, the word first recorded in use 1660–70. Unlike a 'vigil' (a general term for watchful attention, often spiritual) or an 'executioner' (the agent of the final act), the deathwatch is the prolonged, anticipatory stillness that precedes an end. It is the scent of candle-tallow in a sickroom, the weight of a guard's fixed stare in the dark hour before dawn, and the dry, hollow ticking of an insect in the wainscoting—the mundane world holding its breath, listening for an arrival it cannot prevent.
Etymology
From death + watch.
noun
- A vigil beside a dying person
- One who guards a condemned person before execution.
- A deathwatch beetle.