nightingale

noun

night·​in·​gale ˈnī-tᵊn-ˌgāl How to pronounce nightingale (audio)
-tiŋ-
plural nightingales
: an Old World flycatcher (Luscinia megarhynchos synonym Erithacus megarhynchos) that has a brown back, a reddish tail, and cream or white underparts and that is noted for the sweet usually nocturnal song of the male
The nightingale has twenty-four basic songs, but gains wild variety by varying the internal arrangement of phrases and the length of pauses.Lewis Thomas
also : any of various other birds noted for their sweet song or for singing at night
often used with a qualifier indicating location
… the beautiful silver purity of the white-throated sparrow—the nightingale of the North … Stewart Edward White
… the "lonesome" whippoorwill, the American nightingalePhil Patton
Mockingbirds sing a medley copied from more than 40 other birds, singing each birdcall two or three times before changing to a new tune. … Because of the mockingbird's beautiful voice, it is sometimes called the American nightingale. Lee Belanger

Illustration of nightingale

Illustration of nightingale

Examples of nightingale in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
The stamped edges include a similar nightingale motif on a baby blue and yellow backdrop. Ingrid Vasquez, People.com, 2 Oct. 2024 The worry is that our remembrance will whittle down Jones’s vast career—spanning sixty years and encompassing more than two hundred turns in the theatre, on film, and on television—to, as with Plutarch’s nightingale picked clean, vox et praeterea nihil: a voice and nothing more. Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker, 13 Sep. 2024 At Little Massingham, though, there is birdsong in the air, including the clear, high notes of the nightingale; setting ponies, goats, and Tamworth pigs to cultivate old farmland has had remarkable results, with insects quadrupling in number. Cnt Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 3 Sep. 2024 Other newspapers’ nicknames for her — the California nightingale, the California skylark — were not just about her immense vocal range, but about the wonder and novelty that California, of all places, could claim such a woman. Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2024 See all Example Sentences for nightingale 

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, variant (with intrusive n) of nyhtegale, nyghtgale, going back to Old English nehtægale, nihtegale, going back to West Germanic *nahti-galōn, from *nahti- night entry 1 + -galōn, noun derivative of Germanic *galan- "to sing," whence Old English galan "to sing, call, sing enchantments," Old High German, "to sing enchantments, conjure," Old Norse gala "to crow, chant, sing," perhaps of onomatopoeic origin

Note: Germanic *galan- has been compared with Gothic goljan "to greet," Old Norse gæla "to comfort, soothe, appease," allegedly from a causative derivative *gōljan- from underlying *gol-. Proposed Indo-European comparisons (as Russian dialect galit' "to smile," galit'sja "to mock, jeer," Armenian gełgełem "sing beautifully, quiver, vibrate") are tenuous. See also etymology at yell entry 1.

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of nightingale was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near nightingale

nighting

nightingale

Nightingale

Cite this Entry

“Nightingale.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nightingale. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

nightingale

noun
night·​in·​gale ˈnīt-ᵊn-ˌgāl How to pronounce nightingale (audio)
1
: an Old World thrush noted for the sweet song of the male
2
: any of several other birds noted for their sweet song or for singing at night

Biographical Definition

Nightingale

biographical name

Night·​in·​gale ˈnī-tᵊn-ˌgāl How to pronounce Nightingale (audio)
-tiŋ-
Florence 1820–1910 English nurse and philanthropist

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