a brownish European songbird, Luscinia megarhynchos, with a broad reddish-brown tail: well known for its musical song, usually heard at night
any of various similar or related birds, such as Luscinia luscinia ( thrush nightingale )
1200–50; Middle English nightyngale, nasalized variant of nightegale, Old English nihtegale, cognate with German Nachtigall, literally, night singer (compare Old English galan sing; akin to yell )
A nightingale is a very small bird with a beautiful, loud song. If you hear the distinctive whistles of the nightingale, it is most likely a male bird seeking a mate. Nightingales got their name because of the unattached male's habit of singing long into the night (although nightingales also sing during the day). Its song is distinctive and powerful, with trills, whistles, and gurgling sounds punctuating it. The nightingale has inspired writers of all sorts throughout history, including ancient Greeks, the poet Chaucer, and T.S. Eliot in "The Waste Land." The name nightingale combines night with the Proto-Germanic galon, "to sing."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Just as the familiar tune “In the Hall of the Mountain King” gradually builds speed “accelerando,” as the compositional notation is known, some birdsong does too, like that of the nightingale.
From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2023
It was on Hampstead Heath that John Keats pondered the beauty of nature, nightingale song and mortality.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2021
To clarify, “no fun” translates as “bird poo”, while “uguisu” is the species name of the Japanese bush warbler, somewhat different from a nightingale.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 19, 2019
The book has the line “for the first time ever, a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square.”
From The Verge ● May 30, 2019
“It is how I express myself. And Benvenida sings like a nightingale, doesn’t she?”
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
OpenAI said it could not "meaningfully respond" to Nightingale Collective's findings because it hadn't been allowed to review the report, which was first shared with news agency Reuters.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Jim Nightingale, the firm's AI safety and security researcher who uncovered the issues, said he was left "shaken, and in tears" by the images the chatbot could be made to generate.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
Rolls-Royce said Project Nightingale will measure 5.76m, which is roughly the same length as its flagship four- or five-seater saloon, Phantom.
From BBC ● Apr. 14, 2026
The single Nightingale Lane is named after the scene of her first heartbreak, on a sleepy street near Clapham.
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2026
The Nightingale hurried to the edge of the tree; he less walked than seemed blown by the wind.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
Grasshoppers, sand lizards, nightingales, and skylarks that are declining or threatened elsewhere have been found thriving in the city’s green spaces.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 2, 2022
Did the nightingales of Berkeley Square know about this?
From The Guardian ● Nov. 19, 2019
Knepp boasts the largest population in Britain of the Purple Emperor butterfly; nightingales, after years of decline, are nesting there in rising numbers.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 3, 2019
They’re highly empathetic and encouraging; they trill as prettily as nightingales and they all play, quite dexterously, their own musical instruments.
From New York Times ● Nov. 19, 2014
His limbs they gathered and placed in a tomb at the foot of Mount Olympus, and there to this day the nightingales sing more sweetly than anywhere else.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
