deathwatch

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun minute wingless psocopterous insects injurious to books and papers
noun bores through wood making a ticking sound popularly thought to presage death

From death + watch.

"It sounds to me like the ticking of a deathwatch. — The Lock and Key Library: Classic Mystery and Detective Stories: Modern English, Unknown
The Deathwatch, of which there are two kinds, is an insect famous for a ticking noise, like a watch, which superstitious people take for a presage of death, in the family where it is heard. — The History of Insects, Unknown
It seems as if for him it immediately breathed an odour of decay, like that which emanated from Father Zossima’s dead body--the body expected to work miracles--and made the deathwatch so painful for Alyosha Karamazov, his disciple. — Dostoevsky, André Gide

booklouse, book louse, Liposcelis divinatorius

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