Philomeln.
/ˈfɪləmɛl/, U.S. /ˈfɪləˌmɛl/ A poetic or literary name for: the nightingale (in allusion to the myth of the maiden Philomela's transformation into that bird). Also as a count noun: a nightingale.
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
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Nov. 141 And Philomele her song with teares doth steepe.
a1625 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Two Noble Kinsmen (1634) v. v. 124 I have heard Two emulous Philomels, beate the eare o'th night With their contentious throates. View more context for this quotation
a1639 H. Wotton Descr. Spring 12 The Groves already did rejoyce In Philomels triumphing voyce.
1645 J. Milton Il Penseroso in Poems 39 The mute Silence hist along, 'Less Philomel will daign a Song.
1706 tr. H. Schopperus Crafty Courtier i. xxvii. 117 And Philomel at Night bewails her Wrong.
1748 J. Thomson Castle of Indolence i. iv. 3 And now and then sweet Philomel would wail.
1817 J. Keats Poems 88 Returning home at evening, with an ear Catching the notes of Philomel.
1870 J. B. L. Warren Rehearsals 173 Lest our kisses wake The nested thrushes, philomels of dawn.
1889 Hilman's Handbk. Chepstow & Wye (ed. 4) App. 125 Unless fair Philomel is silenced by the too-whoo of the prowling owl.
a1930 R. Bridges Poet. Wks. (1936) 72 The lofty whispering forest, Where rapturously Philomel invoketh the night And million eager throats the morn.
1970 C. Day Lewis Whispering Roots in Compl. Poems (1992) 691 Tune to our joy, grass, breezes, philomels.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1579