nightingalen.1
/ˈnʌɪtᵻŋɡeɪl/, U.S. /ˈnaɪtnˌɡeɪl/ 1.
a. A small reddish-brown migratory thrush, Luscinia megarhynchos, of western Europe and northern Africa, noted for the melodious song of the male which can be heard at night as well as in the daytime.Formerly not differentiated by ornithologists from the thrush nightingale, Luscinia luscinia.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > family Muscicapidae (thrushes, etc.) > subfamily Turdinae > [noun] > genus Luscinia > luscinia megarhynchos (nightingale)
nightgaleeOE
nightingalec1275
nightbirdc1450
Philomenec1500
Philomela1563
Philomel1579
rossignol?1590
Daulian bird1894
c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 4 An hule and one niȝtingale [a1300 Jesus Oxf. nyhtegale].
c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 13 Þe niȝtingale bigon þe speche.
?a1300 Thrush & Nightingale (Digby) 85 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 104 (MED) Niȝttingale, þou hauest wrong!
c1350 Nominale (Cambr. Ee.4.20) in Trans. Philol. Soc. (1906) 24* Cote houle nytyngale.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. 355 (MED) He herde among the leves singe The Trostle with the nyhtingale.
a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) 657 In many places were nyghtyngales [Fr. rossigniaus]..That in her swete song deliten.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 356 Nyghtyngale, Filomena.
1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope vi He herd the songe of a nyghtyngale.
1523 J. Skelton Goodly Garlande of Laurell 997 To here this nightingale..Warbelynge in the vale.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde i. i. f. 2 They harde nyghtingales synge in the thycke woodes.
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Nov. 25 The Nightingale is sovereigne of song.
c1600 in G. Stevenson Poems A. Montgomerie (1910) 2 And nychtingall in to the nycht.
1655 I. Walton Compl. Angler (ed. 2) i. 15 The Nightingale..breaths such sweet lowd musick out of her little instrumental throat, that it might make mankind to think Miracles are not ceased.
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 248 The Nightingal, the sweet Harbinger of the Light, is a constant Chearer of these Groves.
1739 D. Hume Treat. Human Nature II. i. 89 The vanity and emulation of nightingales in singing have been commonly remark'd.
1770 T. Gray Let. 22 May in Corr. (1971) III. 1133 Trees blooming & nightingales singing all round us.
1821 P. B. Shelley Adonais xvii. 12 The lorn nightingale Mourns not her mate with such melodious pain.
1840 Penny Cycl. XVI. 230/2 In Ireland the Nightingale seems never to have been heard.
1894 A. Newton et al. Dict. Birds: Pt. III 636 In great contrast to the Nightingale's pre-eminent voice is the inconspicuous coloration of its plumage.
1923 P. G. Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves iii. 30 I began to sing like a bally nightingale as I sploshed the sponge away.
1993 BBC Wildlife June 34/2 Ever since early April nightingales have been migrating back to Europe from their wintering quarters in tropical Africa.
b. Any of various other birds which sing at night or have a melodious song. Also with distinguishing words, often indicating locality.mock, Swedish, thrush, Virginia nightingale, etc.: see the first element.
ΚΠ
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues at Rousserole The Riuer Nightingale; a kind of Kings-fisher.
1649 Perfect Descr. Virginia 15 The Mock-bird..will imitate all other Birds notes, and cries both day and night-birds, yea, the Owels and Nightingalls.
1668 W. Charleton Onomasticon Zoicon 85 Coccothraustes Virginiana,..the Virginian Nightingale.
c1710 C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 227 The Cornish nightingales as they call them, the Cornish Chough.
1731 E. Albin Nat. Hist. Birds I. Pl. 57 The Red Grosbeak, or Virginia Nightingale.
1790 W. Beckford Descr. Acct. Island of Jamaica I. 257 The nightingale, which is in Europe a timid bird..is yet in Jamaica pert, courageous, and intrusive.
a1818 M. G. Lewis Jrnl. W. India Proprietor (1834) 176 Two Jamaica nightingales have established themselves on the orange tree... This bird is also called the mocking-bird.
1855 W. S. Dallas in Orr's Circle Sci.: Org. Nature III. 306 The Kittacincla macroura..is denominated the Indian Nightingale by some naturalists.
1884 L. A. A. de Verteuil Trinidad (ed. 2) 91 A wren..is known here as the Rossignol, or Nightingale, on account of its note.
1940 E. T. Seton Trail of Artist-naturalist 224 The night singer of the Assiniboine, was..the white-throated sparrow, the Peabody bird of New England, the nightingale of the farther north.
1965 Ulster Folklife 11 98 The nightingale of Ireland is not a nightingale..but a sedge warbler.
1998 K. Desai Hullabaloo in Guava Orchard (1999) xvii. 154 Already she had cooked..an oriole, a Himalayan nightingale, a parrot.
c. humorous. With distinguishing word: an animal, esp. a frog, with a loud, unmusical call.Cambridgeshire, Dutch, fen-nightingale: see the first element.
ΚΠ
1687 P. Ayres Lyric Poems 60 Thy Tune no Mortal does avail, Thou art the Dutch-man's Nightingale.]
1769 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) III. iii. 5 The croaking of frogs is well known, and from that in fenny countries they are..stiled Dutch Nightingales or Boston Waites.
1805 J. Brown Let. 28 Dec. in H. G. Thursfield Five Naval Jrnls. (1951) 365 It looks almost as well in a cage as an Irish Nightingale thats a grunter.
1812 R. Southey Omniana II. clxxxi. 33 Walton accuses the frogs of destroying them, but I cannot persuade myself to find a true bill against these poor persecuted Dutch nightingales.
1844 Zoologist 2 727 The croaking..being so loud and shrill, as to have obtained for these frogs the name of ‘Cambridgeshire nightingales’, and ‘Whaddon organs’!
1975 D. Bagley Snow Tiger xi. 97 A Texas nightingale isn't a bird... It's a donkey.
1994 R. Hendrickson Happy Trails 10 Arizona nightingale, a humorous term for a braying burro or mule.
2. A person with a sweet or enchanting voice; one who sings or speaks delightfully.See etymological note.In quot. 1867 in humorous reference to the sound of the pipes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > quality of voice > [noun] > pleasant quality > person
nightingale?a1500
society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > singer > singer by type of voice > [noun] > sweet singer
nightingale?a1500
siren1592
blackbirda1640
bulbul1848
songbird1874
a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Cock & Fox l. 498 in Poems (1981) 23 Ȝone wes our drowrie and our dayis darling, Our nichtingall, and als our orlege bell.
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 84 Aue Maria,..Haile, gentill nychttingale.
?1536 R. Copland Hye Way to Spyttell Hous sig. B.iii By my fayth nyghtyngales of newgate These ben they that dayly walkes and Iettes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) iv. ix. 18 Mine Nightingale, We haue beate them to their Beds. View more context for this quotation
1653 Ghost or Woman wears the Breeches iii. 20 Sweet Nightingale your Servant, then your Lips.
a1693 Disc. Tenures in J. Gutch Collectanea Curiosa (1781) I. 81 Basil, whom Nyssen calls the golden Nitingale of the church.
1730 H. Fielding Pleasures of Town iii. Air xiii, in Author's Farce 45 Soft Italians are Nightingales, Sir, And a Cock-Sparrow mimicks a Beau.
1751 Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 145 His voice in common conversation was so naturally musical, that I remember honest Tom Southerne used always to call him [sc. Pope] The little nightingale.
1821 P. B. Shelley Epipsychidion 7 This song shall be thy rose: its petals pale Are dead, indeed, my adored Nightingale!
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. 643 Spithead-Nightingales, boatswains and boatswains' mates, when winding their calls, especially when piping to dinner.
1877 Spirit of Times 15 Dec. 531/3 Riccardo, the he-she nightingale, is splendid in his female impersonation.
1937 W. C. Williams tr. M. Hernandez in M. J. Bernadete & R. Humphries & Spain Sings 14 If I have issued from a womb Wretched and impoverished, It was only that I might be The nightingale of misfortunes.
1992 Daily Tel. (BNC) The prize for Best Car Park Love Song went to Patsy Hubcap, known as ‘the nightingale of pay-and-display’, for her poignant number, Are You Just Leaving?
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > names applied to various flowers
heliotropec1000
flower jaunette1423
helichrysum1551
sunflower1562
Armeria1578
hyacinth1578
pimpernel1578
vaccin1589
heliochryse1593
purple1604
sunflower1622
mayflower1626
starflower1629
bluebottle1648
pink1731
trumpet-flower1732
fly-wort1753
witches' thimbles1820
honey plant1824
black-eyed Susan1836
shell-flower1845
pincushion1847
pincushion flower1856
nightingale1862
garland-flower1866
paper-white1880
1862 Monthly Packet Oct. 435 Cuckoo flowers are called ‘nightingales’ [in Essex].
1886 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names 353 Nightingales, 1. Geranium Robertianum L.—Bucks (Wycombe). 2. Arum maculatum L.—Ess.
1893 G. E. Dartnell & E. H. Goddard Gloss. Words Wilts. 110 Nightingale.., Greater Stitchwort.
Compounds
C1.
a. † nightingale-catcher n. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1774 D. Barrington in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 63 283 One should suppose..that the nightingale-catchers had heard much of the French music.
nightingale-singing n.
ΚΠ
1826 J. Galt Last of Lairds i. 5 In the nightingale-singing season.
b.
nightingale-haunted adj.
ΚΠ
1853 T. Buckland in Househ. Words 24 Sept. 83/2 The nightingale-haunted groves of Bagley Wood.
1908 M. J. Cawein Isolt in Poems 333 She once had heard..Sir Launcelot sing..Deep in the nightingale-haunted dusk.
1930 Amer. Econ. Rev. 20 711 He quite fails to notice the frequent flour mills turned by water like that which the tourist passes in the nightingale haunted ravine between Nemea and Mycenae.
C2. † nightingale maggot n. Obsolete the larva of a flour beetle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > eggs or young > [noun] > young or development of young > larva > that becomes black winged insect
nightingale maggot1750
1750 W. Ellis Country Housewife's Family Compan. 193 Great Heats produce the Nightingale Maggot, that turns to a black wing'd Insect, that feeds upon and corrupts the Flower [sc. flour].
nightingale pipe n. now historical a type of organ pipe producing a tremolando effect (see quot. 1626).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > wind instrument > pipe > [noun] > other pipes
pipette?a1475
nightingale pipe1626
Picco pipe1856
ocarina1877
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §172 In Regals (where they have a Pipe, they call the Nightingale-Pipe, which containeth Water) the Sound hath a continuall Trembling.
1752 M. Delany Autobiogr. & Corr. (1861) III. 86 Donnellan is tuning her nightingale pipes.
1836 G. Almar Rover's Bride i. i. 9 Oh, that be the nightingale pipe of Mrs. Alice, singing like a wood-lark in the morning;—she be up and stirring already.
Derivatives
ˈnightingale-like adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > [adjective] > melodious or harmonious
sweetc900
merryOE
softc1230
accordanta1325
well-soundingc1350
cordant1382
sootc1385
songfula1400
melodiousa1425
sugaredc1430
well-toneda1500
tunable1504
dulcea1513
equivalenta1513
consonant?1521
harmonicala1527
harmoniousc1550
consorteda1586
Orphean1593
concentful1595
melodical1596
sweet-recording1598
tuneful1598
sirenical1599
high-tuned1603
nightingale-like1611
soundful?1615
according1626
modulaminous1637
undiscording1645
canorous1646
symphonious1652
concinnous1654
consonous1654
harmonic1667
sirenica1704
symphonial1773
concentual1782
chantant1785
Memnonian1800
melodized1807
Orphic1817
undiscordant1819
concentuous1850
fluting1852
melodic1871
well-orchestrated1872
jarless1876
tuny1885
tunesome1890
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues at Rossignolesque Nightingale-like, harmonious.
1978 ELH 45 282 Keats wrote ‘To Autumn’, and in that act affirmed process, abandoning, it would seem, the quest for a nightingale-like experience of time.
1992 Harvard Jrnl. Asiatic Stud. 52 20 His mouth..could also speak the more ordinary voices of his own environment, including the voices of his wife's nightingale-like soul.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
Nightingalen.2
/ˈnʌɪtᵻŋɡeɪl/, U.S. /ˈnaɪtnˌɡeɪl/ 1. allusively. A nurse. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > healer > nurse > [noun]
nouricec1225
keeper?c1450
nursekeeper1602
nursea1616
Parabolanus1673
sister1716
nurse-tendera1743
sick-nurse1816
Nightingale1862
Norlander1944
1855 W. M. Thackeray Newcomes II. lix The world is full of Miss Nightingales, and we sick and wounded in our private Scutaries, have countless nurse-tenders.]
1862 J. V. Lauderdale Let. in Wounded River (1993) 73 Our ‘Nightingales’, as Dr. Hoff playfully calls our female nurses.
1981 J. E. Mottus (title) New York Nightingales: the emergence of the nursing profession at Bellevue and New York Hospital 1850–1920.
1995 Daily Tel. 23 May 22/6 When my brother was a medical student at St. Thomas' Hospital the nurses were known as Nightingales.
2005 J. Mulanax Healing Nightingales Introd. 16 The wounded Nightingales kept gracing the doors of my counseling practice.
2. A kind of knitted or flannel wrap used to cover the shoulders and arms of a patient when confined to bed. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical appliances or equipment > surgical garments > [noun] > other garments
bootikin1767
cholera belt1831
Nightingale jacket1869
Nightingale1874
Nightingale wrap1885
poultice jacket1896
G-suit1945
1874 Illustr. Queen Almanac for 1875 43/1 Knitted Nightingale... If a very warm wrap is wished for, knit this in double Berlin or fleecy wool... The usual sized nightingale when finished should measure two and a half yards in length.
1879 Peterson's Mag. Mar. 244/1 If a very warm wrap is wished for, knit this pretty one, called a Nightingale, in double Berlin or fleecy wool... The usual-sized nightingale when finished should measure two and a-half yards in length.
1882 Ogilvie's Imperial Dict. (new ed.) Nightingale, a sort of flannel scarf, with sleeves, for persons confined to bed. Largely used by the sick and wounded in the Franco-German war, 1870-71.
1889 Atalanta Mar. Suppl. 1 A nightingale is such an easy thing to make: just two yards of flannel bound round and a short slit in the long side.
1894 Bazaar 7 Mar. (Ladies' Suppl.) 28/2 The selvedges below the 5in. slit are the fronts of the Nightingale, and, when the wrap is put on, these fronts are folded over..in double-breasted fashion.
1908 Daily Chron. 14 June 4/6 It was then explained that nightingale, in this connection, did not mean a song-bird, but a bed-jacket invented by Miss Florence Nightingale.
1921 Jewish Exponent (Philadelphia) 16 Dec. 11/2 The following donations have been received from:..Mrs. A. Kirschbaum, knitted nightingale, one pair pulse warmers and one rubber stocking.
1931 N. Royde-Smith Delicate Situation ix. 275 She sat propped by pillows, wrapped in a grey woollen nightingale.
2017 H. V. Lee in Piecework Jan.–Feb. 49 The lapels on this Nightingale are fairly wide and are intended to imitate those seen in portraits of Florence Nightingale from the 1850s.
Compounds
C1. attributive. Designating a kind of wrap, esp. as Nightingale jacket, Nightingale wrap; = sense 2. Now rare (Australian and New Zealand in later use).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical appliances or equipment > surgical garments > [noun] > other garments
bootikin1767
cholera belt1831
Nightingale jacket1869
Nightingale1874
Nightingale wrap1885
poultice jacket1896
G-suit1945
1869 Home Mission Field Jan. 10 Nightingale Jacket from ‘Little Evelyn's Mamma’.
1871 Churchman's Compan. Apr. 322/2 I want to get blankets,..shirts, and caps, Nightingale flannel jackets, waterproof sheeting, a foot-warmer, &c.
1878 Grantham Jrnl. 13 July 4/3 The House Committee gratefully acknowledge the following gifts:—Old linen, Mrs. Bryan; flannel Nightingale cape, Miss Clements; [etc.].
1880 L. Higgin Handbk. Embroidery 106 (advt.) Nightingale dressing jacket, from £2.
1885 C. S. Shaw Textbk. Nursing xxiii. 305 The ‘Nightingale’ wrap is a very convenient and easily adjusted shape. For this, two yards of flannel of the ordinary width are required.
1898 Methodist Mag. Mar. 217/2 Every child looked snug in his scarlet Nightingale jacket.
1911 A. S. Morrison Mem. 96 I think it was about '62, along the time that the famous Nightingale wrap or—what shall I call it?—a shoulder protection was introduced to put about soldiers' shoulders when they were seated in bed.
1914 Scotsman 11 Sept. 10/6 (advt.) We have also Specimens of the Regulation Red Cross Nightingale Jacket, Shirt, and Nightshirt, &c.
1948 Cessnock (New S. Wales) Eagle 20 Aug. 3/2 Nurses' Church Parade... The neat uniforms and the scarlet Nightingale capes presented a pretty spectacle as the nurses joined in the worship.
C2.
Nightingale ward n. now historical a type of hospital ward with two long rows of beds and a central station for the nurse in charge.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > places for the sick or injured > [noun] > hospital or infirmary > hospital ward > types of ward
foul ward1734
day ward1801
eye ward1828
casualty ward1836
scarlet ward1888
out-ward1890
observation ward1908
open ward1919
casualty1927
post-op1929
Nightingale ward1930
private1942
surgical1961
SCBU1968
NICU1971
pre-op1991
1930 A. C. Ellis Hist. Surv. Torquay xxviii. 443 In the New Hospital the two Nightingale Wards have been combined as the Men's Medical Ward.
1952 Light & Lighting Mar. 81/1 The plan is a complete departure from the conventional ‘Nightingale’ ward.
1964 G. L. Cohen What's Wrong with Hospitals? ii. 37 Long after the austere open dormitory had been abandoned abroad, Britain doggedly went on building ‘Nightingale wards’.
1989 Nursing 26 Oct. 15/2 Nightingale wards are not known for their privacy and most patients would evidently prefer to be in wards with up to six beds.
2014 P. Steadman Building Types & Built Forms iii. 64/1 The virtue of the Nightingale ward was that the nurse's room had a window giving an unobstructed view of almost all the beds.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1c1275
n.21862