death rattle

death rattle

n.

A gurgling or rattling sound sometimes made in the throat of a dying person, caused by loss of the cough reflex and passage of the breath through accumulating mucus.

---

death rattle,

a sound produced by air moving through mucus that has accumulated in the throat of a dying person who has lost the cough reflex. It is often accompanied by agonal respiration.

---

death rattle

A sound characteristic of end-stage lung disease–eg, terminal lung CA or pulmonary edema, that occurs when the clearance of large airway secretions becomes nearly impossible; as air moves to and fro in the bronchi, the sound acquires a gurgling or rattling quality, often presaging death. Cf Medicine rattle.