lullaby
/ˈlʌləbʌɪ
/noun (plural lullabies)
A quiet, gentle song sung to send a child to sleep.Participants learned the old lullabies and folk songs of their mothers and grandmothers joyfully and enthusiastically....
- Their traditional music includes work songs, hymns, lullabies, ballads, and healing songs.
- The music is Celtic-Emerald Isle - the songs are a lullaby.
Synonyms
cradle song, soothing song, gentle song, quiet song;
French berceuse
verb (lullabies, lullabying, lullabied) [with object] rare
Sing to (someone) to get them to go to sleep: she lullabied us, she fed us...
- For the next ten years until the death of Philip V (the first Spanish Bourbon and father of the first Neapolitan Bourbon), Farinelli lullabied the depressed king to sleep with the same four songs every night!
- Another such piece, ‘Child Falling Asleep,’ lulls the mind into a sleepy state, much as he might have imagined lullabying his own children at bedtime.
- Sunshine will appeal to story group times at schools and libraries, as well as parents and grandparents lullabying their children to sleep at bedtime.
Origin
Mid 16th century: from lull + bye-bye, a sound used as a refrain in lullabies; compare with bye-byes.