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.
Through the years, she was often compared to her elder sister - who was revered as the "nightingale" of Bollywood and died in 2022 - but Bhosle built a distinct identity.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
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
Animals have always come and gone, medieval wolves, later Keats’ nightingale, later still a rare wallaby, spotted bounding through the trees in spring 2019.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 5, 2020
That was mine because I liked that idea that, for once, a nightingale actually did sing in Berkeley Square.
From The Verge ● May 30, 2019
But now here she was crying and warbling like an Italian nightingale!
From "The Cricket in Times Square" by George Selden
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
Hopper says her team, and the Baden Powell staff worked hard to ensure the children's transition to Nightingale school was smooth.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 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
Consumer psychologist Kate Nightingale says companies actually want customers to associate negative emotions with the cancellation process.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2026
If you were clean shaven and fit the dress, you played Lady Reythiel in The Swineherd and the Nightingale.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
This will be beneficial for a host of wildlife and rare species, including nightingales.
From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2025
In their 2020 study, Dr. Roeske and Dr. Tchernikovski compared recordings of thrush nightingales across Europe with examples from musical genres all over the world, including Western classical piano, Persian drumming and Tunisian stambeli.
From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2023
Yet prior to the new study, only humans and thrush nightingales have been observed singing songs that have a rhythmical structure—that is, containing features such as a “categorical rhythm.”
From Science Magazine ● Oct. 25, 2021
Do nightingales shoot magic out of their cloacas?
From The Guardian ● Nov. 19, 2019
From there you can see the golden hills of Toledo and hear the nightingales sing.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
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.
