nightingale

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“
1. Thy spirits sister, the lorn nightingale, Mourns not her mate_, &c.; The reason for calling the nightingale the sister of the spirit of Keats (Adonais) does not perhaps go beyond this--that, as the nightingale is a supreme songster among birds, so was Keats a supreme songster among men.

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Definitions (14)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A European songbird (Luscinia megarhynchos) with reddish-brown plumage, noted for the melodious song of the male at night during the breeding season.
  2. noun Any of various other nocturnal songbirds of the genus Luscinia.

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Examples (50)

  • A delicious climate there brings the finest fruits to maturity; the grapes hang in festoons from tree to tree; the song of the nightingale is heard in every grove; all nature seems to rejoice in the paradise which the industry of man has created. —  Historical Sketches, Volume I (of 3) The Turks in Their Relation to Europe; Marcus Tullius Cicero; Apollonius of Tyana; Primitive Christianity
  • Haji Mollah Kozim translated this rhyme as follows: "The morning bird is the nightingale--little smaller than the sparrow, but it has a very loud voice as clear as a golden bell." —  Modern Persia
  • The nightingale is a general favorite, and many popular songs have been written about this bird, and are sung by nearly every young man and young lady, boy and girl in Persia This author says of the miller that it loves light more than any other insect. —  Modern Persia
  • But generally the birds used to grumble at the nightingale, and say it was not fair of him to make such a noise of a night. —  Featherland How the Birds lived at Greenlawn
  • They wanted peace and quietness; and one old greenfinch, who could not sing a bit, and had no ear for music, used to say that the nightingale was as great a nuisance as old Shoutnight, the owl, and that his noises ought to be stopped But one night there was such a shouting and hoo-hooing that all the birds woke up in a fright. —  Featherland How the Birds lived at Greenlawn
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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English nihtegale : niht, night; see night + galan, to sing; see ghel-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English nightingale, niʒtingale (with unorig. medial n), nightegale, nyghtgale, from Anglo-Saxon nihtegale, nihtegala, nehtegale (in old glosses also naectegale, nectægalae, nictigalae, a nightingale, also rarely a night-raven) (= Old Saxon nahtigala = Middle Dutch nachtegale, Dutch nachtegaal = Old High German nahtagala, nahtigala, Middle High German nahtegale, nahtegal, G. nachtigall; cf. modern Icelandic nætfrgali = Swedish näktergal = Danish nattergal, after G.), a nightingale, from niht, genitive nihte, night, + gale, singer, from galan, sing: see gale.
  2. So called after Florence Nightingale, conspicuous as a hospital nurse in the Crimean war and later. The surname Nightingale is derived from the name of the bird: see nightingale.
 

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/ˈnaɪtɪngeɪl/
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