[f. prec.] trans. To soothe with a lullaby; to sing to sleep. Also transf. and fig.
1592. G. Harvey, Pierce’s Super. (1593), 194. No man could … lullaby the circumspectest Argus more sweetly.
1596. Copley, Fig for Fortune, 59. Sweet Sound that all mens sences lullabieth.
1607. Walkington, Opt. Glass, 19. It … lullabees the senses, yea, intoxicates the … soule, with a pleasing poyson.
1647. Howell, Twelve Treat. (1661), 268. In Holland … he was … pourtrayed lying in his cradle lullaby’d and rock’d asleep by the Spaniard.
1818. Hazlitt, Pol. Ess. (1819), 340. When we see a poor creature like Ferdinand VII. … lullabied to rest with the dreams of superstition [etc.].
1890. Jean Middlemass, Two False Moves, III. xiv. 210. Ruth … kissed and lullabyed her to sleep.
1893. A. Austin, Conv. Winckelmann, etc. (1897), 157. Then I … lullaby my pain with plaintive song.
b. absol. or intr.
1603. Florio, Montaigne, I. xix. (1632), 31. No song of birds, no musikes sound Can lullabie to sleepe profound.
1866. Carlyle, Remin., I. 101. Waves … beautifully humming and lullabying on that fine long sandy beach.
