Wiktionary

nightingale

See also: Nightingale

English

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A nightingale

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈnaɪtɪŋɡeɪl/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Etymology 1

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Inherited from Middle English nyghtyngale, nightingale, niȝtingale, alteration (with intrusive n) of nyghtgale, nightegale, from Old English nihtegala, nihtegale (“nightingale; night-raven”, literally “night-singer”), from Proto-West Germanic *nahtigalā (“nightingale”), equivalent to a compound of night +‎ gale. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Noachtegoal (“nightingale”), Dutch nachtegaal (“nightingale”), German Low German Nachtigall (“nightingale”), German Nachtigall (“nightingale”), Danish nattergal (“thrush nightingale”), Swedish näktergal (“nightingale”), Icelandic næturgali (“nightingale”).

Noun

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nightingale (plural nightingales)

  1. A Eurasian and African songbird, Luscinia megarhynchos, family Muscicapidae, famed for its beautiful singing at night; a common nightingale.
    Nightingales have been spotted in this coppice.
    You sing like a nightingale, sport!
    • 1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page v:
      Some admired the external beauties of the objects they beheld, like the nightingale in love with the roſe.
    • 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter V, in The Last Man. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
      The oaks around were the home of a tribe of nightingales.
    • 1859, Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia, page 2:
      And David's Lips are lock't; but in divine
      High piping Péhlevi, with "Wine! Wine! Wine!
      Red Wine!" — the Nightingale cries to the Rose
      That yellow Cheek of her's to'incarnadine.
    • 1936, F.J. Thwaites, chapter XXII, in The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards, published 1940, page 222:
      The air, too, was heavy with perfume, and a nightingale, high in the heavens, gave out a cheery song of welcome.
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Named after Florence Nightingale.

Noun

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nightingale (plural nightingales)

  1. A kind of flannel scarf with sleeves, formerly worn by invalids when sitting up in bed.

Anagrams

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Middle English

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Noun

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nightingale

  1. Alternative form of nyghtyngale
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