death rattle
death rattle the gurgling sound produced by air passing through mucus or fluid in the lungs of a dying person. It is said to indicate approaching death, or sometimes to be the sign of the arrival of death itself; the last sound a dying person makes.
Gustave Flaubert described Emma Bovary's death rattle in vivid terms:
At once her breast began to heave rapidly. Her tongue hung at full length from her mouth; her rolling eyes grew dim like the globes of two lamps about to go out; and one might have thought her dead already but for the terrifying, ever-faster movement of her ribs, which were shaken by furious gasps, as though her soul were straining violently to break its fetters.
Gustave Flaubert described Emma Bovary's death rattle in vivid terms:
At once her breast began to heave rapidly. Her tongue hung at full length from her mouth; her rolling eyes grew dim like the globes of two lamps about to go out; and one might have thought her dead already but for the terrifying, ever-faster movement of her ribs, which were shaken by furious gasps, as though her soul were straining violently to break its fetters.
Sarah Goodfellow
More From encyclopedia.com
Thanatology , The field called thanatology (the science or study of death) emerged quite suddenly at the end of the 1960s. There is little doubt that the most impo… Death , Death
Accounts of the moments before and after death abound with reports of paranormal phenomena, including apparitions of the dying in distant place… Death Mask , A death mask is a wax or plaster cast of a person's face taken while he or she is alive or after their death. Usually the mask is created after the d… Josef Mengele , ANGEL OF DEATH (Heb. מַלְאַךְ הַמָּוֶת, malakh ha-mavet). The polytheistic concept of a specific deity of *death who is responsible for the origin an… Cot Death , cot death Sudden unexpected death, with no cause identified after post-mortem examination, accounts for between one-third and one-half of deaths occu… Coroner , CORONER
An official of amunicipal corporationwhose designated functions include the investigation of the cause of any violent or suspicious death tha…
You Might Also Like
NEARBY TERMS
death rattle