1. Bores through wood making a ticking sound popularly thought to presage death
   "The deathwatch beetle's tapping echoed through the old house";
   - deathwatch beetle, Xestobium rufovillosum
    
2. Minute wingless psocopterous insects injurious to books and papers
   "The old library was plagued by deathwatches feeding on the mould in aging books";
   - booklouse, book louse, Liposcelis divinatorius

Derived forms: deathwatches

Type of: beetle, psocopterous insect

Part of: Anobiidae, family Anobiidae, genus Liposcelis, Liposcelis

Encyclopedia: Deathwatch