| death knell or death bell | |
| —n | |
| 1. | something that heralds death or destruction |
| 2. | a bell rung to announce a death |
| death bell or death bell | |
| —n | |
| an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance. |
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
death knell
Something that indicates impending failure, as in His low scores sounded the death knell for his ambitions. The noun knell, used for the ringing of a bell since at least a.d. 1000, is rarely heard today except in this figurative phrase.