[Imitative of the repetition of (lu lu) or similar sounds, appropriate to the purpose of singing a child to sleep. Cf. Sw. lulla, Da. lulle, to hum a lullaby, to lull, early mod.Du. lullen ‘numeros canere’ (Kilian), mod.Du. lullen to prattle; cf. MDu. lollen to mutter (see LOLLARD).
A similar onomatopœia occurs in L. lallāre, of equivalent meaning.]
1. trans. To soothe with sounds or caresses; to induce to sleep or to pleasing quiescence.
13[?]. Leg. Rood (1871), 133. Feet and fayre hondes Þat nou ben croised I custe hem ofte, I lulled hem I leid hem softe.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 495. And gan the childe to kisse And lulled it and after gan it blisse. Ibid., Merch. T., 579. He lulleth hire he kisseth hire ful ofte.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 647. We will seasse till, now sone, the sun be at rest,… And yche lede, as hym list, lullit on slepe.
a. 1500. Songs & Carols 15th C. (Percy Soc.), 9. In a manjour of an as Jhesu lay and lullyd was.
1530. Palsgr., 615/2. She can lulle a childe as hansomly aslepe as it were a woman of thurty yere old.
1587. Turberv., Trag. T. (1837), 12. Minerva luld him on her lappe, and let him many a kisse.
1607. Shaks., Cor., III. i. 114. The Virgin voyce That Babies lull a-sleepe.
1666. Bunyan, Grace Ab., § 110. Continual rocking will lull a crying child.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 161, ¶ 1. The Musick of the Birds … lull’d me asleep before I was aware of it.
1715–20. Pope, Iliad, XIV. 191. And lull the Lord of Thunders in her arms.
a. 1718. Prior, Young Gentl. in Love, 4. Take me, my Celia, to thy breast, And lull my wearied soul to rest.
1800. Wordsw., Hart-leap Well, ii. 150. Asleep he sank, Lulled by the fountain in the summer-tide.
1825. D. Welsh, Life T. Brown, i. 3. His mother used to lull him asleep with The flowers of the forest, a tune, to which [etc.].
1871. B. Taylor, Faust (1875), I. xii. 141. Lulled in my lap with many a song, It smiled, and tumbled, and grew strong.
2. fig. and in fig. context. † Also with up.
1575. Laneham, Lett. (1871), 35. I was lulld in such liking … that mooch a doo … had I, to fynde me whear I waz.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 199. As though you were in likelyhoode to possesse peace, and to be lulled in the lap of safetie.
1582. Breton, Flourish upon Fancy (Grosart), 60/2. So (luld in this my deepe distresse) some comfort lend to me.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, II. (1590), 108 b. The young Musidorus … was yet for some yeares after … lulled vp in as much good luck [etc.].
1615. W. Martyn, Twenty Kings Eng., 198. The said Petition was thereby lulled fast asleepe.
1775. Sheridan, Rivals, V. i. You may lull your keen regret to slumbering.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., I. xxxiii. Not Ellen’s spell had lulled to rest The fever of his troubled breast.
b. esp. To quiet (suspicion) by deception; to delude into a sense of security.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 153. To drinke wine upon an emptie stomacke fasting … dulleth the vigor and quicknesse of the spirit: fitter indeed to bring and lull men asleepe in the bed of securitie.
1636. E. Dacres, trans. Machiavel’s Disc. Livy, II. 255. Who,… partly beguil’d by some devises hee shall make use of to lull them a sleepe, are easily kept from stirring.
1734. trans. Rollin’s Anc. Hist. (1827), II. II. 68. Antiochus imposed upon and lulled asleep by his flatterers.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, lxii. A superior is equally bound to prefer a charge, or to give notice that that charge will be preferred,… instead of lulling the offender into security.
1859. Jephson, Brittany, xvi. 254. By a feigned devotion to the interests of his new master, [he] succeeded in lulling all his suspicions.
1900. W. Watt, Aberdeensh., iv. 85. They were soon lulled into a sense of security.
† 3. intr. To be lapped in soothing slumbers.
Possibly these quots. may belong to LOLL v.1 4. On the other hand, it is possible that some of the quots. there given should have been placed here.
a. 1450. Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.), 182. My lytylle childe lyth alle lame, That lullyd on my pappys!
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 291. Some there be that lie lulling on the softe pillow of slouth.
1594, 1635, 1778. [see LOLL v.1 4].
4. trans. To bring to a state of comparative quiescence (winds, sea, etc.).
1680. Dryden, Ovid’s Epist., vii. 52. Stay but a little, ’till the Tempest cease, And the loud Winds are lull’d into a Peace.
1819. Byron, Juan, II. cxlviii. Lull’d like the depth of ocean when at rest.
a. 1854. H. Reed, Lect. Eng. Hist., ix. 283. The tempest, that was only lulled, comes back again.
5. intr. Of the sea or wind: To become lulled, or gradually diminished in force or power.
1808. Pike, Sources Mississ. (1810), 10. The wind lulling, we encamped on the point of an island.
1835. Motley, Corr. (1889), I. iii. 57. The wind lulling a little, we became encouraged.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xxvi. The wind lulled, the rain came down in a deluge.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxiv. (1856), 193. This [nipping], too, continued through the day, sometimes lulling for a while into comparative repose.
1869. Parkman, Disc. Gt. West, xii. (1875), 144. When at length the tempest lulled, they re-embarked.
b. fig. To become quiescent or inactive.
1850. H. Bushnell, God in Christ, 287. The instinct of system lulls in its activity, as spiritual life quickens in the soul.
1862. Neale, Hymns East. Ch., 16. Lulling at the death of Constantine, the persecution again broke out in the latter years of his successor Leo.
