lull

From Middle English lullen, lollen. Originally, perhaps expressive in origin from la-la-la or lu-lu-lu sounds made in calming a child. Compare Finnish laulaa (“to sing”) and Hiligaynon lala (“to sing a lullaby”).

Cognate with Scots lul, lule, loll (“to lull, put to sleep, howl, caterwaul”), Dutch lollen (“to sing badly, caterwaul”), Dutch lullen (“to chatter, prate, cheat, deceive”), Low German lullen (“to lull”), German lullen (“to lull”), Danish lulle (“to lull, sing to sleep”), Swedish lulla (“to lull”), Icelandic lúlla (“to lull”).

• IPA^(key): /lʌl/

  • Audio (Southern England)

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• Rhymes: -ʌl

lull (plural lulls)

1. A period of rest or soothing.
2. A period of reduced activity; a respite.
3. (nautical) A period without waves or wind.
   • 1839, The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle for 1839, page 26:

     […] during the lull, wind shifted to S. E. […]

   • 1875, W. G. Wilson, Report of the Midnapore and Burdwan Cyclone of the 15th and 16th of October 1874, page 74:

     After the lull the wind does not appear to have blown with any great strength […]

   • 2016, David Houghton, Fiona Campbell, Wind Strategy, not paginated:

     The air under each cloud has spent time near the surface, has been slowed and backed by friction—it is a lull.

4. (surfing) An extended pause between sets of waves.
   • 1992, John Warlaumont, The Noaa Diving Manual‎, page 19-19:

     It is advisable to leave the surf zone during the lull between sets of larger waves, waiting outside the surf zone for a lull.

   • 808surfer.com forum (password needed):

     About 2 hours in, a long lull cleared everyone out, and then it started getting a little more consistent and pushing chest ta neck high.

• lull before the storm

Holding in one's arms is a common technique to lull into sleep.

lull (third-person singular simple present lulls, present participle lulling, simple past and past participle lulled)

1. (transitive) To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm

   Synonyms: soothe, quiet

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30:

     To lull him soft a sleepe

   • 1634, John Milton, “Arcades”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 54:

     Such ſweet compulſion doth in muſick ly, / To lull the daughers of Neceſſity,

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXXVII, page 57:

     To lull with song an aching heart

2. (intransitive) To become gradually calm; to subside; to cease or abate.

   The storm lulled.

• (To cause to rest): appease

• belull
• lullful
• lullsome

Compare lulla.

lull (not comparable)

1. (in "stå lull") to stand without support (of a toddler)

lull

1. Used to lull (a child) to sleep.

Now mostly appears only in lullabies.

• vyssan lull

• lulla

• vaggvisa (“lullaby”)

• lull in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• lull in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• lull in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)