Brewer's: Conclamatum est

He is dead past all hope. The sense of hearing is generally the last to fail in the hour of death, hence the Romans were accustomed to call on the deceased three times by name, and if no indication of hearing was shown death was considered certain. Conclamatum est, he has been called and shows no sign.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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