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
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death rattle