before a vowel thanat-, combining form of Gr. θάνατος death, chiefly in scientific words. Thanato-biologic a. (see quot.). Thanatognomonic a., indicative or characteristic of death. Thanatography, nonce-wd. (after biography], an account of a person’s death. Thanatomantic a. [see -MANTIC], of or pertaining to divination concerning death. Thanatometer (see quots.). ǁ Thanatophobia (also thanatophoby), morbid fear of death. ǁ Thanatopsis (Gr. ὄψις sight, view], a contemplation of death. Thanatotyphus, malignant typhus.
1899. Syd. Soc. Lex., *Thanato-biologic, pertaining to life and death.
1862. G. W. Balfour, trans. Casper’s Forensic Med., § 55 II. vi. 239. The lungs in the more or less recent bodies of those drowned … present an appearance so peculiar as to be truly *thanatognomonic.
1839. Thackeray, Catherine, vi. The excellent ‘Newgate Calendar’ … contains the biographies and *thanatographies of Hayes and his wife.
1841. Fraser’s Mag., XXV. 270. The deuteroscopic or *thanatomantic faculty of the Germans.
1860. Mayne, Expos. Lex., Thanatometrum,… term by Nasse [of Berlin] for a means of indicating the actual presence of death; a death-measurer: a *thanatometer.
1899. Syd. Soc. Lex., Thanatometer, a thermometer capable of being introduced into the stomach to determine whether the depression of temperature is sufficient to be looked on as a sign of death.
1847. Lloyd & Babington, trans. Feuchtersleben’s Prin. Med. Pscyh., 348. If it [melancholy] assume the character of *thanatophobia, let the cure, by means of occupation, gymnastics, riding, &c., be declared to be a cure for the disorder of which the patient is afraid he shall die.
1860. Mayne, Expos. Lex., Thanatophobia, term for a dread or fear of death: *thanatophoby.
1903. Alien. & Neurol., May, 170. Pessimism is frequently associated with morbid fear of death (thanatophobia).
1816. W. C. Bryant (title), *Thanatopsis.
1860. Mayne, Expos. Lex., *Thanatotyphus.
1890. in Billings, Med. Dict.
