▪ I. nightingale1
(ˈnaɪtɪŋgeɪl)
Forms: 3 niȝtin-, 4 nihtyn-, nyhtin-, 4–6 nyghtyn-, (5 -yng, nygttyn-, 6 nyghtin-), 4–5 nytyn(g)-, 5–6 Sc. nycht(t)in-, (6 -yn-, nichtin-), 4, 6 nightyn-, 6– nightin-, (7 nitin-); also 5–7 -gal(l, 6 Sc. -gaill, 7 -ghale.
[Later form of nightegale nightgale. For the insertion of the n, which has no etymological reason, cf. farthingale.]
1. a. A small reddish-brown or tawny migratory bird (Motacilla or Daulias luscinia), celebrated for the melodious notes which the male utters by night as well as by day during the breeding and nesting season.
By poets frequently called Philomela.
| a 1250 Owl & Night. 4 (Cotton MS.) An hule and one niȝtingale. Ibid. 13 Þe niȝtingale bigon þe speche. c 1340 Nominale (Skeat) 788 Cote, houle, nytyngale. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 657 In many places were nyghtyngales, Alpes, fynches, and wodewales. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 54 He herde among the leves singe The Throstle with the nyhtingale. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 356/1 Nyghtyngale, filomena. 1484 Caxton Fables of Alfonce vi, He herd the songe of a nyghtyngale. 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 997 To here this nightingale..Warbelynge in the vale. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 66 They harde nyghtingales synge in the thycke woodes. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Nov. 25 The Nightingale is sovereigne of song. 1661 Walton Compl. Angler (ed. 3) i. i, The Nightingale..breaths such sweet lowd musick out of her little instrumentall throat, that it might make mankind to think Miracles are not ceased. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 248 The Nightingal, the sweet Harbinger of the Light, is a constant Chearer of these Groves. 1770 Gray in Corr. w. Nicholls (1843) 109 Trees blooming and nightingales singing all round us. 1821 Shelley Adonais xvii. 1 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 Newton Dict. Birds 636 In great contrast to the Nightingale's pre-eminent voice is the inconspicuous coloration of its plumage. |
b. Applied to other birds, as Cornish nightingale, Indian nightingale, Jamaica nightingale, Swedish nightingale, etc. (see quots.).
mock, thrush, Virginian nightingale: see these words.
| c 1710 C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 227 The Cornish nightingales as they call them, the Cornish Chough. a 1818 M. G. Lewis Jrnl. W. Ind. (1834) 176 Two Jamaica nightingales have established themselves on the orange tree... This bird is also called the mocking-bird. 1855 Orr's Circle Sci., Org. Nat. III. 306 The Kittacincla macroura..is denominated the Indian Nightingale by some naturalists. 1884 Newton in Encycl. Brit. XVII. 499/1 The Redwing, strangely enough, has been often spoken of as the ‘Swedish Nightingale’. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 28 Sedge Warbler, Acrocephalus Phragmitis,..Irish nightingale, Scotch nightingale. |
c. Dutch nightingale, a frog. Also Cambridgeshire nightingale, the edible frog, Rana esculenta, which was introduced into East Anglia early in the nineteenth century.
| 1769 Pennant Brit. Zool. III. 5 The croaking of Frogs is well known, and from that in fenny countries they are stiled Dutch Nightingales or Boston Waites. 1812 Southey Omniana II. 33 Walton accuses the frogs of destroying them, but I cannot persuade myself to find a true bill against these poor persecuted Dutch nightingales. 1840 Spurden Suppl. Forby, Dutch-Nightingale, a frog, from its melodious note in the spring. 1881 Brewer's Dict. Phr. & Fable (ed. 12) 615/2 Cambridgeshire nightingales, edible frogs. 1975 Country Life 20 Feb. 455/2 The lakes, canals and meres of East Anglia became well stocked with [edible] frogs... Locals called these invaders Cambridgeshire nightingales. |
2. transf. Applied to persons, esp. to melodious singers or speakers. (See also quot. 1867.)
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxxv. 34 Aue Maria!.. Haile, gentill nychttingale! a 1550 Hye Way to Spittel Ho. in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 41 By my fayth, nyghtyngales of Newgate, These be they that dayly walkes and jettes. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. viii. 18 Mine Nightingale, We haue beate them to their Beds. a 1618 Raleigh in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 81 Basil, whom Nyssen calls the golden Nitingale of the church. c 1730 Fielding Pleasures of Town Wks. 1771 I. 246 Soft Italians are nightingales, Sir, And a cock-sparrow mimics 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 [Pope] The little nightingale. 1821 Shelley Epipsych. 10 This song shall be thy rose: its petals pale Are dead, indeed, my adored Nightingale! 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 643 Spithead-Nightingales, Boatswains and boatswains' mates, when winding their calls, especially when piping to dinner. |
3. A popular or local name for certain flowers.
| 1862 Monthly Pkt. Oct. 435 Cuckoo flowers are called ‘nightingales’. 1886 Britten & Holland 353 Nightingales, 1. Geranium Robertianum. 2. Arum maculatum. 1893 Wilts. Gloss. 110 Nightingale.., Greater Stitchwort. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as nightingale-catcher, nightingale-like; nightingale floor, in Japan, a floor that emits a high-pitched sound when it is trodden on; nightingale-maggot, -pipe (see quots.).
| 1611 Cotgr., Rossignolesque, Nightingale-like, harmonious. 1626 Bacon Sylva §172 In Regals (where they have a Pipe, they call the Nightingale-Pipe, which containeth Water) the Sound hath a continuall Trembling. 1750 W. Ellis Country Housew. Comp. 193 Great Heats produce the Nightingale Maggot, that turns to a black wing'd Insect, that feeds upon and corrupts the Flower. 1752 Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. (1861) III. 86 Donnellan is tuning her nightingale pipes. 1773 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 283 One should suppose..that the nightingale-catchers had heard much of the French music. 1959 S. Sitwell Bridge of Brocade Sash v. 113 As for the squeaking,..the Japanese..will not allow it to be a ‘nightingale floor’, and leave it at that, but have to remark it is so constructed that ‘at every step the boards emit a sound resembling that of uguishu, Japanese bush warbler’. 1964 I. Fleming You only live Twice v. 62 This..is what the Japanese call a ‘nightingale floor’... Imagine trying to get across here without being heard. |
Hence ˈnightingalize v., to sing like a nightingale. ˈnightingaly a., suggestive of, adapted for, nightingales. (nonce-wds.)
| 1799 Southey Eng. Ecl. Poet. Wks. III. 78 He sings like a lark when at morn he arises, And when evening comes he nightingalizes. 1869 Mrs. Whitney We Girls iii, Its expression was ‘blossomy, nightingale-y’, atilt with glee and grace. 1884 Cent. Mag. Mar. 775/2 The surrounding country..looked to me very nightingaly. |
▪ II. nightingale2
(ˈnaɪtɪŋgeɪl)
[f. the name of Miss Florence Nightingale (1820–1910).]
1. A kind of flannel wrap used to cover the shoulders and arms of a patient while confined to bed.
| 1882 in Ogilvie. 1889 Atalanta Mag. 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. |
2. attrib., as Nightingale ward, a type of hospital ward designed to accommodate several patients in one room.
| 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’. 1970 Guardian 10 Sept. 13/1 Cubicles instead of Nightingale wards mean that nurses escape being constantly overseen. |