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
I wonder if even Janet Malcolm might have given a pass to this devoted biographer and his own bow to a nightingale.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 3, 2023
For decades, the "nightingale of Bollywood" was the country's most in-demand singer, with every top actress wanting her to sing their songs.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2022
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
He laid Lyra on the enormous palm, and she gazed up at the giant with perfect confidence, and Pantalaimon sang like a nightingale.
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
Nightingale says it has now cataloged about 19,000 messages from the agents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
The statue is located just off the Mall and is near the statue of Florence Nightingale and Crimean War Memorial.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
On Sept. 4, researchers at another not-for-profit group, the Nightingale Collective, found that OpenAI agents undergoing testing had hijacked a German website to communicate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
While the incident caused minor harm overall, it demonstrated the capabilities of these agents, said Sydney Von Arx, the chief executive of Nightingale Collective, a not-for-profit organization that helped uncover the attack.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
“I’m going to bed. Get over whatever problem you have with Misha and figure out how to keep the Nightingale from stealing Ivan’s magic. Or else...”
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
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
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
Muntjac deer have eaten the undergrowth where nightingales once nested in the forests near my home, and now those birds have gone.
From New York Times ● May 16, 2017
Malcolm wandered about the grass, looking at the little trees with glowing blossoms and listening to the birds that flew and sang in the branches as prettily as nightingales.
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
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