Azʹrael (3 syl.)

The angel that watches over the dying, and takes the soul from the body. The angel of death. He will be the last to die, but will do so at the second trump of the archangel.

“The Mohammedan doctors say that Azrael was commissioned to inflict the penalty of death on all mankind.”—H. Christmas.

The wings of Azrael. The approach of death; the signs of death coming on the dying.

“Those who listen in the … watches of the night for the wings of Azrael.”—Besant.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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