[a. (through Pers.) Arab. bulbul.]
1. A bird: a species of the genus Pycnonotus, belonging to the Thrush family, much admired in the East for its song; hence sometimes called the ‘nightingale’ of the East.
1784. Sir W. Jones, in Memoirs, II. 37 (Y.). We … cease to wonder that the Bulbul, with a thousand tales, makes such a figure in Persian poetry.
1797. Gentl. Mag., LXVII. II. 947. The fighting Bulbul, a kind of nightingale, said to be enamoured of the rose.
1830. Tennyson, Recoll. Arab. Nts., 70. The living airs of middle night Died round the bulbul as he sung.
1871. Darwin, Desc. Man, I. II. xiii. The Bulbuls (Pycnonotus hæmorrhous) which fight with great spirit.
1878. C. R. Conder, Tent Work Pal., II. 136. Among these thickets … the bulbuls, and hopping thrushes, were the only living things visible.
2. transf. A sweet singer; also attrib.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lxii. You must belong to the Bulbul faction.
1865. Lond. Rev., 30 Dec., 685/2. The Irish bulbul [T. Moore] records … how his oriental songs opened the west-end drawing-rooms.
