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lull

Pronunciation: /lʌl/

The English word “lull” has 7 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A period of rest or soothing.
  2. A period of reduced activity; a respite.
  3. A period without waves or wind.
  4. An extended pause between sets of waves.

verb

  1. To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm
  2. To become gradually calm; to subside; to cease or abate.
  3. To give somebody a false sense of security so that an unpleasant situation takes the person by surprise.

Etymology

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.