lullaby

American  

[luhl-uh-bahy] / ˈlʌl əˌbaɪ /

noun

• lullabies
  plural

1. a song used to lull a child to sleep; cradlesong.

2. any lulling song.

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verb (used with object)

lullabied, lullabying

1. to lull with or as with a lullaby.

lullaby British  

/ ˈlʌləˌbaɪ /

noun

1. a quiet song to lull a child to sleep

2. the music for such a song

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verb

1. (tr) to quiet or soothe with or as if with a lullaby

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• lullabies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of lullaby

1550–60; equivalent to lulla, lulla ( y ), interjection used in cradlesongs ( late Middle English lullai, lulli ) + -by, as in bye-bye

Explanation

If anyone has ever sung a song to you before bedtime, trying to lull you to sleep, you can call that song a lullaby. Lullabies are usually soft and soothing tunes — more like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" than AC/DC's "Back in Black." Many lullabies are folk tunes, and most of them are simple melodies with repetitive lyrics. You might be familiar with lullabies like "Hush, Little Baby," "Rockabye Baby," and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," all of which have been sung for generations to sleepy children by their parents, grandparents, and babysitters. The word lullaby comes from the Middle English lullen, "to lull or soothe," and bye, as in "bye bye."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lullaby lullabies lullabied lullabying

Say, for instance, a fluffy Sasquatch, or a crooner of a moon in pajamas singing an old-timey lullaby to all the little ones seated cross-legged on the floor.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026

In one of the film’s most stirring moments, indicative of its quiet power, Duvall keeps his back to the camera as he sings a lullaby hymn only for himself.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2026

Cheerful illustrations accompanied by rhyming text enumerate little acts of love over the course of a day, from early-morning wake-ups to indulging requests for one more bedtime lullaby.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026

He guesses that Kopycinski, who lost two sisters at Auschwitz, “probably dedicated the lullaby to a son from a previous marriage before his deportation.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

While the hardest part of the water monster lullaby was how long it was, the hardest part of the protection song was actually singing in Navajo without the aid of the bow guard.

From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young

And while Anglo-American lullabies are typically written in major keys, Gershwin chose a minor one—evoking the depth and dignity of such African-American spirituals as “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025

Rolling Stone described “Transatlanticism” in 2003 as “11 indie lullabies … ostensibly about a long distance relationship.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2024

As children, we were sung lullabies, read bedtime stories.

From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2024

When Izzy recently decided to go back in the studio to record a new album, which includes some of the lullabies she plays, she wanted to invite Rupert too.

From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2024

It was a legitimate sound of home, one that would remind the Meecham children of their youth more strongly than the singing bells of ice cream trucks or the cadences of lullabies.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

Which leads to an obvious question: Are there bands that can’t be lullabied?

From Washington Post ● Mar. 30, 2017

The breeze lullabied the conker tree and the conker tree lullabied me.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

It is not often in life that one slips into dreamless slumber on soft grass, lullabied by the night-song of a south-wester in pine trees centuries old.

From With Botha in the Field by Eric Moore Ritchie

Into this they ran, and there they spent the night, serenaded by the roaring gale, and lullabied by the crash of falling spires and the groans of rending ice.

From The Giant of the North Pokings Round the Pole by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne

The lullabying born-again crooner of the mid-2000s was initially far less interesting.

From Slate ● Aug. 27, 2015

Virginia Mayo was looking beautiful and Doris Day was lullabying.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 2, 2010

Meanwhile, platformed six feet above the orchestra, the Mothers were lullabying away at some of their "greatest hits," like Lumpy Gravy, Duke of Prunes and Who Needs the Peace Corps.

From Time Magazine Archive

She hauls the lot of them into her bed and heart, lullabying away their fears and wringing tears from the audience.

From Time Magazine Archive

We almost had Provincial Premiers lullabying to their Cabinets:   "Hush ye, hush ye, do not fret ye,   The Black Douglas shall not get ye."

From The Masques of Ottawa by Augustus Bridle