- a vigil beside a dying or dead person.
- a guard set over a condemned person before execution.
- any of several beetles of the family Anobiidae that make a ticking sound as they bore through wood: the sound was once believed to be an omen of death.
- a vigil held beside a dying or dead person
- a beetle, Xestobium rufovillosum, whose woodboring larvae are a serious pest. The adult produces a rapid tapping sound with its head that was once popularly supposed to presage death
