bulbul

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   any of a family of often gregarious songbirds native to Africa and Asia

   The male bulbul defended its perch with a sharp series of calls.

2. 2
   noun

   the nightingale or a nightingale-like songbird celebrated in Persian and Arabic poetry

   In the poem, the bulbul sings to the rose throughout the night.

Borrowed from Persian bulbul or Arabic bulbul, names for a melodious songbird and probably echoic in origin. Persian poetry conventionally pairs the devoted bulbul with the beloved rose; zoology applies the name to birds of the family Pycnonotidae.

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