death throe

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛθ θɹoʊ/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Homophone: death row

death throe (plural death throes)

1. (chiefly in the plural) Struggle that is followed by death.
2. (chiefly in the plural) The final movements or sounds, often erratic, of a living being as it dies.

   In her death throes, she made a sound and reached outward.

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     One thing, however, was certain, the death throes ceased - at first I thought because he had got beyond them, and crossed the awful river.

3. (figurative, chiefly in the plural) The final actions or output of a machine or other object before it ceases to function.

   As part of its death throes, the printer made a grinding sound and then never worked again.

• on one's last legs
• in articulo mortis
• at death's door