Lull
Verb
Pronunciation: lVl
Etymology: of imitative origen.
Indicative past, past participle: lulled
Present participle: lulling
Third-person singular simple present: lulls
Transitively:
First definition: to soothe (a child) with a lullaby; to induce (any one) to a pleasing sleep or to a similar quiescence, by using soothing vocal sounds
Synonyms: to lullaby; calm, soothe, quiet, assuage, tranquilize, mollify, ease.
Antonyms: to disquiet, disturb
It may be approximately translated by adormecer por medio de un canto suave, in Spanish; addormentare con una canzone gradevole, in Italian; endormir par un chant agréable, in French.
***With the preposition to, or into, followed by a noun, designative of the result:
Having no one else, she whispered her thoughts, her wishes to the little Nancy. Instead of tender songs and baby talk, the child was lulled to sleep with stories of her father, with broken sobs.
Anna Nicholas (An idyl…)
I lulled my little boy to sleep -I placed him softly on his couch.
John Galt (The earthquake)
[…] Henry screamed again for several hours. Jane, had she felt an affection for the child, and, from that affection, been [… made] to sooth it with tenderness, might easily have lulled it into quiet.
Arthur’s Magazine, vol. 1-2
They rocked the child by fastening the cradle with a rope to the top of the hut ; and tossing it from one side to the other, lulled it to sleep.
J. Goldsmith – James Percival (A Geographical View…)
Second definition: (the subject may be a thing or an animated being) to soothe (any one) to a pleasing sleep or to a similar quiescence otherwise than by vocal sounds
Books, my old delight, still lulled my mind.
George Croly (Salathiel)
The silence around me, — save the home-returning bee with its " drowsy hum," — and the moaning sound of distant cattle, — and the low, sullen gurgling of waters — lulled me into a sleep.
Washington Irving (The Analectic Magazine, vol. 8)
[I] stretched myself on a low ottoman in a nook hidden by the broad thick leaves of camellias and orange-trees. There, indolently reading, the rain plashing on the glass lulled me into a deep, delicious, dreamless sleep.
Godey’s Magazine, vol. 82-83
Falcon intending to lull his wife into a false security, lulled himself into that state instead.
Charles Reade (The complete writings…)
The quiet that succeeded lulled her into a false security.
Sophia Lee (Canterbury tales)
***Reflexively:
At night she lulled herself to sleep with too much wine.
Fern Michaels (The Marriage Game)
[…] she had lulled herself to a false repose by the use of opium.
Mary Braddon (Run to Earth)
[…] she lulled herself into patience.
Elizabeth Gaskell (Cranford)
I lulled myself again into a calm.
Charlotte Campbell (Love)
Metaphorical uses:
Intransitively: (of the sea, wind, etc.) to become calmed
The wind, which had been high all day, lulled towards evening, and heavy rain came on.
Eliza Meteyard (Lilian’s golden hours)
