Each matin bell, the baron saith, Knells us back to a world of death. --Coleridge.
Knell \Knell\, n. [OE. knel, cnul, AS. cnyll, fr. cnyllan to sound a bell; cf. D. & G. knallen to clap, crack, G. & Sw. knall a clap, crack, loud sound, Dan. knalde to clap, crack. Cf. {Knoll}, n. & v.] The stroke of a bell tolled at a funeral or at the death of a person; a death signal; a passing bell; hence, (figuratively), a warning or harbinger of, or a sound indicating, the passing away of anything; -- also called {death knell}. [1913 Webster +PJC]
The dead man's knell Is there scarce asked for who. --Shak.
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day. --Gray.
Knell \Knell\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Knelled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Knelling}.] [OE. knellen, knillen, As. cnyllan. See {Knell}, n.] To sound as a knell; especially, to toll at a death or funeral; hence, to sound as a warning or evil omen.
Not worth a blessing nor a bell to knell for thee. --Beau. & Fl.
Yet all that poets sing, and grief hath known, Of hopes laid waste, knells in that word, ``alone''. --Ld. Lytton.
More will follow. In addition Mr Clarke may soon sound the death knell for some of the six pits which British Coal said this week would be mothballed.
These developments appear to sound the death knell for his long-running effort to acquire the retailer of home-improvement products.
Like many, he feels the Prince William Sound disaster "may be the death knell to Bristol Bay leasing" because of the nightmarish potential if a spill happened here.
All this adds up to a death knell for Japan's cross-shareholding structure.
The death knell of the uneasy peace sounded when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty Aug. 23.
"Our concern is for the employees who remain with Eastern," Guerrieri said. "We believe this is the death knell for Eastern." The Transport Workers Union, representing Eastern's flight attendants, also joined the suit.
In an industry notorious for its volatility, MAI has a very consistent record. Diversification is frequently the death knell for a focused business.
Analysts said the British Airways decision likely was a death knell for the UAL buyout.
In a fit of depression, when her third bout with cancer had sounded a death knell, Julia Gebersky inquired through others whether her son, Robert, had a gun and could shoot.
"Unless there is a massive and unprecedented political mobilization, Justice Brennan's departure may be a death knell for the right to choose in America," she said in a statement.
"Have you ever been in a gloomy situation, where the death knell had sounded?" he said about the mood around the pit just before the opening bell.
"Unless there is a massive and unprecedented political mobilization, Justice Brennan's departure may be a death knell for the right to choose in America," said Kate Michelman, head of the National Abortion Rights Action League.
Small-business advocates in Congress said the action could mean "the death knell" for small concerns that depended on military contracts and lacked the capital to survive the cutoff.