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

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

Jepsen continued posting on Instagram about her maternity journey with fans, in January posting photos from the beach, from home and from fitting rooms as she spoke about finding a lullaby for her child-to-be.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026

In Auschwitz last year, he was playing a lullaby on the piano, composed by Adam Kopycinski, a brilliant Polish musician who was the conductor of the Auschwitz Orchestra and had performed for Höss.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

Soundtracking it is a snippet of “Sueña Lindo, Corazón,” a tender, stripped-down folk lullaby for a wounded heart.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2025

Dinah’s hair wrapped around my fingers and her hums turned into a lullaby I remembered Gran singing to us.

From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce

Forever spouting hilariously wrong theories about the Traitors, I started to feel bad for him when his teammates made fun of him as he sang backwards lullabies played by creepy dolls.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025

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

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

From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2024

“Puerto Rico lullabies me to sleep,” one of the freshmen, whose name is Maria, says first.

From "Watch Us Rise" by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan

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

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 Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)

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 Ritchie, Eric Moore

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 Bridle, Augustus