You are welcome to answer questions posted in the Ask a Teacher forum as long as your suggestions, help, and advice reflect a good understanding of the English language. If you are not a teacher, you will need to state that clearly at the top of your post. Please note, all posts are moderated by our in-house language experts, so make sure your suggestions, help, and advice house the kind of information an international language teacher would offer. If not, and your posts do not contribute to the topic in a positive way, they will be subject to deletion.
The Nightingale is slightly larger than the European Robin, at 15-16.5 cm length. It is plain brown above except for the reddish tail. It is buff to white below. Sexes are similar.
Nightingales are named so because they frequently sing at night as well as during the day. The name has been used for well over 1,000 years, being highly recognizable even in its Anglo-Saxon form - 'nihtingale'. It means 'night songstress'. Early writers assumed the female sang; in fact, it is the male. The male nightingale is known for his singing, to the extent that human singers are sometimes admiringly referred to as nightingales; the song is loud, with an impressive range of whistles, trills and gurgles. Its song is particularly noticeable at night because few other birds are singing.
PS There's a famous old song called: "A nightingale sang in Berkley Square" (London).
The Following User Says Thank You to Neillythere For This Useful Post:
That will depend on the exact context. The nightingale is a bird known for its beautiful singing. So one meaning is that a person referred to as a nightingale has a particularly fine singing voice. Nightingale was the surname of a nurse in the Crimean war who later campaigned for changes in the way soldiers were treated and is credited with the foundation of modern nursing. So a slang term for nurses was 'nightingales' and there was a television series some years ago about a hospital and its staff called "Nightingales". You will have to decide which fits best as an answer for your question.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Horsa For This Useful Post:
Yes, Horsa. I'd forgotten about good old Florence Nightingale.
Oops. I was just "connecting the dots" and ended up with a male nurse who sings in the middle of the night! Hmmmm?
Yes, Marcio, I believe it is just possible for a man/boy to be called a nightingale, but not by me!
The Following User Says Thank You to Neillythere For This Useful Post:
Hmm... I was hoping that slang could mean something like this:
she was watching someone else's life without permission, like a big brother TV show. She put cameras in her friend's house and then it was possible to see what that person was doing. Then a friend found out what she did and then said: She's a nightingale.
What do you think? Did I misunderstand? Is there another word "close" or similar to nightingale that can match with that description I just did.
Thank you very much
Last edited by marciobarbalho; 02-Apr-2008 at 21:55.
Hmm... I was hoping that slang could mean something like this:
she was watching someone else's life without permission, like a big brother TV show. She put cameras in her friend's house and then it was possible to see what that person was doing. Then a friend found out what she did and then said: She's a scamp. or She's a little rogue. They have nothing in common with a bird apparently but are we going in the right direction?
What do you think? Did I misunderstand? Is there another word "close" or similar to nightingale that can match with that description I just did.
Thank you very much
k
The Following User Says Thank You to banderas For This Useful Post:
Maybe you should have a look there
a nightingale is a "girl who flits and flees from one guy to the next without a care of any consequences" (Urban dictionary)
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to beascarpetta For This Useful Post:
Nightingale 
or She's a little rogue. 
Linear Mode
