death rattle
a sound produced by a person immediately preceding death, resulting from the passage of air through the mucus in the throat.
Origin of death rattle
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use death rattle in a sentence
Inside, on the floor, lay a poor old woman, the death-rattle in whose throat proclaimed that her end was fast approaching.
A Woman's Journey Round the World | Ida PfeifferHe had the death rattle and was spitting up blood, which ran out of the corners of his mouth at every gasp.
Maupassant Original Short Stories (180), Complete | Guy de Maupassant"You come too late, brother," the wounded man murmured, in a voice choking with the death rattle.
The Pirates of the Prairies | Gustave AimardI plainly heard the wheeze of blood in its throat, and the sound, like a death-rattle, affected me powerfully.
Tales of lonely trails | Zane GreyI walk up to him with finger on trigger at a ready, but the death-rattle is in his throat, and another shot is unnecessary.
American Big-Game Hunting | Various
British Dictionary definitions for death rattle
a low-pitched gurgling sound sometimes made by a dying person, caused by air passing through an accumulation of mucus in the trachea
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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