▪ I. lull, n.1
(lʌl)
[f. lull v.]
1. Something which lulls; spec. a lulling sound, etc.
| 1719 Young Revenge v. ii, Yonder lull Of falling waters tempted me to rest. 1820 Keats Isabella v, Sweet Isabella's untouch'd cheek..Fell thin as a young mother's, who doth seek By every lull to cool her infant's pain. |
† b. Soothing drink, ‘nepenthe’. Obs.
| 1659 Lond. Chanticleers ix. 20 Mine Host Welcom has a Cup of blessed Lull. |
2. A lulled or stupefied condition.
| 1822–56 De Quincey Confessions (1862) 238, I fleeted back into the same opium lull. 1902 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 553/1, I sat listening in a kind of lull of terror and disgust. |
3. A brief period of intermission or quiescence in a storm. Also fig.
| 1815 Earl of Dudley Let. 15 Apr. (1840) 93 What..so many wiser people mistook for a calm, turns out to be only a lull. 1851 Gallenga Italy ii. 90 The lull that occurred in Lombardy..was sheer dread and horror of French interference. 1860 Motley Netherl. (1868) I. iii. 69 There was a lull on the surface of affairs. 1901 Edin. Rev. Jan. 196 There seemed for a time a lull in the storm. |
▪ II. lull, n.2 Whaling.
(lʌl)
[a. Du. lul tube.]
A tube to convey blubber into the hold. Also lull-bag.
| 1836 Uncle Philip's Convers. Whale Fishery 99 From the speck-trough, [the pieces of blubber]..pass through the lull, into tubs fixed in the hold. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Lull-bag, a wide canvas hose in whalers for conducting blubber into the casks, as it is ‘made off’. |
▪ III. lull, v.1
(lʌl)
[Imitative of the repetition of (lʌ lʌ) or similar sounds, appropriate to the purpose of singing a child to sleep. Cf. Sw. lulla, Da. lulle, to hum a lullaby, to lull, early mod.Du. lullen ‘numeros canere’ (Kilian), mod.Du. lullen to prattle; cf. MDu. lollen to mutter (see Lollard).
A similar onomatopœia occurs in L. lallāre, of equivalent meaning.]
1. trans. To soothe with sounds or caresses; to induce to sleep or to pleasing quiescence.
| 13.. Leg. Rood (1871) 133 Feet and fayre hondes Þat nou ben croised I custe hem ofte, I lulled hem I leid hem softe. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 495 And gan the childe to kisse And lulled it and after gan it blisse. ― Merch. T. 579 He lulleth hire he kisseth hire ful ofte. c 1400 Destr. Troy 647 We will seasse till, now sone, the sun be at rest,..And yche lede, as hym list, lullit on slepe. a 1500 Songs & Carols 15th C. (Percy Soc.) 9 In a manjour of an as Jhesu lay and lullyd was. 1530 Palsgr. 615/2 She can lulle a childe as hansomly aslepe as it were a woman of thurty yere old. 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 12 Minerva luld him on her lappe, and let him many a kisse. 1607 Shakes. Cor. iii. i. 114 The Virgin voyce That Babies lull a-sleepe. 1666 Bunyan Grace Ab. §110 Continual rocking will lull a crying child. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 161 ¶1 The Musick of the Birds..lull'd me asleep before I was aware of it. 1715–20 Pope Iliad xiv. 191 And lull the Lord of Thunders in her arms. c 1718 Prior Young Gentl. in Love 4 Take me, my Celia, to thy breast, And lull my wearied soul to rest. 1800 Wordsw. Hart-leap Well ii. 150 Asleep he sank, Lulled by the fountain in the summer-tide. 1825 D. Welsh Life T. Brown i. 3 His mother used to lull him asleep with The flowers of the forest, a tune, to which [etc.]. 1871 B. Taylor Faust (1875) I. xii. 141 Lulled in my lap with many a song, It smiled, and tumbled, and grew strong. |
2. fig. and in fig. context. † Also with up.
| 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 35, I was lulld in such liking..that mooch a doo..had I, to fynde me whear I waz. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 199 As though you were in likelyhoode to possesse peace, and to be lulled in the lap of safetie. 1582 Breton Flourish upon Fancy (Grosart) 60/2 So (luld in this my deepe distresse) some comfort lend to me. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. (1590) 108 b, The young Musidorus..was yet for some yeares after..lulled vp in as much good luck [etc.]. 1615 W. Martyn Twenty Kings Eng. 178 The said Petition was thereby lulled fast asleepe. 1775 Sheridan Rivals v. i, You may lull your keen regret to slumbering. 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. xxxiii, Not Ellen's spell had lulled to rest The fever of his troubled breast. |
b. esp. To quiet (suspicion) by deception; to delude into a sense of security.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 153 To drinke wine upon an emptie stomacke fasting..dulleth the vigor and quicknesse of the spirit: fitter indeed to bring and lull men asleepe in the bed of securitie. 1636 E. Dacres tr. Machiavel's Disc. Livy II. 255 Who,..partly beguil'd by some devises hee shall make use of to lull them a sleepe, are easily kept from stirring. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) II. ii. 68 Antiochus imposed upon and lulled asleep by his flatterers. 1833 Marryat P. Simple lxii, A superior is equally bound to prefer a charge, or to give notice that that charge will be preferred,..instead of lulling the offender into security. 1859 Jephson Brittany xvi. 254 By a feigned devotion to the interests of his new master, [he] succeeded in lulling all his suspicions. 1900 W. Watt Aberdeensh. iv. 85 They were soon lulled into a sense of security. |
† 3. intr. To be lapped in soothing slumbers.
Possibly these quots. may belong to loll v.1 4. On the other hand, it is possible that some of the quots. there given should have been placed here.
| a 1450 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 182 My lytylle childe lyth alle lame, That lullyd on my pappys! 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 291 Some there be that lie lulling on the softe pillow of slouth. 1594, 1635, 1778 [see loll v.1 4]. |
4. trans. To bring to a state of comparative quiescence (winds, sea, etc.).
| 1680 Dryden Ovid's Epist. vii. 52 Stay but a little, 'till the Tempest cease, And the loud Winds are lull'd into a Peace. 1819 Byron Juan ii. cxlviii, Lull'd like the depth of ocean when at rest. a 1854 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Hist. ix. 283 The tempest, that was only lulled, comes back again. |
5. intr. Of the sea or wind: To become lulled, or gradually diminished in force or power.
| 1808 Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) 10 The wind lulling, we encamped on the point of an island. 1835 Motley Corr. (1889) I. iii. 57 The wind lulling a little, we became encouraged. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xxvi, The wind lulled, the rain came down in a deluge. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxiv. (1856) 193 This [nipping], too, continued through the day, sometimes lulling for a while into comparative repose. 1869 Parkman Disc. Gt. West xii. (1875) 144 When at length the tempest lulled, they re-embarked. |
b. fig. To become quiescent or inactive.
| 1850 H. Bushnell God in Christ 287 The instinct of system lulls in its activity, as spiritual life quickens in the soul. 1862 Neale Hymns East. Ch. 16 Lulling at the death of Constantine, the persecution again broke out in the latter years of his successor Leo. |
▪ IV. † lull, v.2 Obs.
Also 6 loll.
trans. To pull about (by the ears).
| 1530 Palsgr. 614/1, I lolle one aboute the eares. Je luy tire les oreilles. I shall lolle you aboute the eares tyll I make your eares cracke. 1568 Hist. Jacob & Esau ii. ii. C ij, Oh that I had his eare betwene my teeth now, I should shake him euen as a dog that lulleth a sow. |
▪ V. lull
obs. form of loll v.1