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.

---

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

---

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

But wanting to show “a more vulnerable side of Santos” this season, Briones worked with her own actor father, Jon Jon, to find a Filipino lullaby that she could sing to baby Jane Doe.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026

To reflect the 100-plus languages spoken in the Philippines, they selected a Hiligaynon lullaby called “Ili Ili Tulog Anay.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 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

“Writing a lullaby helped to preserve the maternal aura that had to be maintained in ghettoes and camps with large populations of women and children.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

“How can any of you ever expect to play in a professional orchestra if you cannot keep time on a lullaby? Now again!”

From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman

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

Instead, the group work through a mix of lullabies, folk and gospel, switching from Spanish to Congolese to Swahili in rounds of four-part harmonies.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2025

After birth, a baby is immediately immersed in a sea of words and rhythm, as their caregivers coo over them, chatter and sing lullabies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2025

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

From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2024

Father missed his mother he never knew; but Grandpa sang him lullabies, holding him close with rough but gentle hands.

From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

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

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

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

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

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---