proverb · Source-linked selection
A dry cough is the trumpeter of death.
A dry cough is the trumpeter of death.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying personifies a dry cough as a trumpeter announcing death. Its severe warning makes a symptom stand for an expected outcome.
What the words are saying
Trumpeter gives the cough an announcing role rather than a detailed explanation. A responsible reading records that ominous image without treating it as a diagnosis or prognosis. The text supplies no individual circumstances, evidence or timescale. Its fearful language should not be used to decide what a symptom means for a real person.
Everyday example
A reader identifies the warning image in the anthology without applying its fatal outcome to someone with a cough.
When to use it
Use it to examine an alarming symptom metaphor in historical lore.
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What it does not mean
The saying is not a diagnosis, prognosis or proof that death is approaching.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases
Entry 461 · Dry cough
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- English