1. a vigil kept beside a dying or dead person
2. a small beetle that makes a ticking sound, traditionally believed to foretell death

Examples

• The family kept a deathwatch through the night.
• She maintained a solemn deathwatch at her grandmother’s bedside.
• The old house was infested with deathwatch beetles.
• The ticking sound of the deathwatch beetle echoed in the wooden beams.
• They took turns during the deathwatch, never leaving him alone.
• The deathwatch continued until dawn broke over the hospital.
• Superstitious villagers feared the sound of the deathwatch beetle.