death-watch beetle

A form of deathwatch beetle — Any of various beetles of the family Anobiidae, now usually included in family Ptinidae, especially Xestobium rufovillosum, that bore into wood and make a tapping sound.

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Meanings

noundeath-watch beetle (plural death-watch beetles)

plural death-watch beetles

  1. alternativeAlternative form of deathwatch beetle.

    Of course they had death-watch beetle at Noseley Abbey.

    2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN
Cite this entry
APA

death-watch beetle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/death-watch%20beetle

MLA

“death-watch beetle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/death-watch%20beetle. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “death-watch beetle,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/death-watch%20beetle.

Source: death-watch beetle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.