Xestobium Rufovillosum (Noun)
Meaning
Bores through wood making a ticking sound popularly thought to presage death.
Classification
Nouns denoting animals.
Examples
- The eerie ticking sound in the walls seemed to be coming from a Xestobium rufovillosum, a beetle notorious for boring through wood.
- In old European folklore, people believed the deathwatch beetle or Xestobium rufovillosum was a harbinger of death due to the ticking noise it made.
- Legend has it that when you heard the Xestobium rufovillosum in the night, it was a sign that a family member's demise was near.
- Late at night, Emily would lie awake, her imagination fueled by the faint sound of Xestobium rufovillosum in the old wooden house.
- Residents of this old mansion claimed that the Xestobium rufovillosum made an ominous ticking sound whenever someone was about to die.