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

Yo-Yo Ma closed his eyes as he drew a bow slowly across his cello, playing the first notes of the Catalan lullaby “The Song of the Birds.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026

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

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

I feel so helpless that I can't even understand what a lullaby means.

From "Born Behind Bars" by Padma Venkatraman

He adds that the musical repertoire at Ravensbrück, a camp for women and girls, included several lullabies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

Soon to enchant the audience with her honeyed vocals is Judeline, the Spanish Venezuelan singer known for her heavenly electronic pop lullabies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2025

They revered silence, considered birds their guardians and sang their babies lullabies: Utalá tapey-’é, uá utalá dioi — sleep little one, the sun has gone to sleep.

From New York Times ● Jan. 13, 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

Birds are settling down for the night, singing lullabies to their young.

From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

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 Ritchie, Eric Moore

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)

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

In Raising Arizona she earned the usual critical raves as canny, resilient Ed McDonnough, lullabying her purloined baby to sleep with a grotesquely poignant backwoods ballad.

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 Bridle, Augustus