different between lull vs serendipity

English

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.

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 lulla (“to lull”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l?l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Noun

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, p. 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, p. 74:

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

   • 2016, David Houghton and 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, p. 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.

Translations

Verb

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

   The storm lulled.

Derived terms

• belull
• lullful
• lullsome

Synonyms

• (To cause to rest): appease

Translations

English

Etymology

From Serendip (“variant of Serendib: Ceylon, Sri Lanka”) +? -ity. Coined by English writer and politician Horace Walpole in 1754 based on the Persian story of The Three Princes of Serendip, who (Walpole wrote to a friend) were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?.??n.?d?.p?.ti/, /?s?.??n.?d?.p?.ti/

Noun

serendipity (countable and uncountable, plural serendipities)

1. A combination of events which have come together by chance to make a surprisingly good or wonderful outcome.

   Antonyms: Murphy's law, perfect storm

   • 1754, Horace Walpole, The Letters of Horace Walpole, vol. 2, Letter 90, To Sir Horace Mann, Arlington Street, Jan. 28, 1754. The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2

     The most random serendipity brought the two of us together, and now, we are happily married! If I was just 15 seconds slower, I'd have never met her!

     This discovery, indeed, is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word, which, as I have nothing better to tell you, I shall endeavour to explain to you: you will understand it better by the derivation than by the definition. I once read a silly fairy tale, called "The Three Princes of Serendip;" as their Highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of: for instance, one of them discovered that a mule blind of the right eye had travelled the same road lately, because the grass was eaten only on the left side, where it was worse than on the right – now do you understand Serendipity? One of the most remarkable instances of this accidental Sagacity, (for you must observe that no discovery of a thing you are looking for comes under this description,) was of my Lord Shaftsbury, who, happening to dine at Lord Chancellor Clarendon's, found out the marriage of the Duke of York and Mrs. Hyde, by the respect with which her mother treated her at table.
2. An unsought, unintended, and/or unexpected, but fortunate, discovery and/or learning experience that happens by accident.

   Synonyms: chance, luck; see also Thesaurus:luck

   • 2007, Erin McKean, speech at TED

     Serendipity is when you find things you weren't looking for because finding what you are looking for is so damn difficult.

Usage notes

Serendipity is sometimes used loosely as a synonym for luck; more careful usage, particularly in science, emphasizes specifically "finding something when looking for something else, thanks to an observant mind".

The term was virtually unknown until the 1870s, and gained currency in the early 20th century. It became popularized at mid-century, and is now widely used.

Derived terms

• serendipitous
• serendipitously

Translations

References

• Goodman, Leo A. Notes on the Etymology of Serendipity and Some Related Philological Observations, Modern Language Notes, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Vol. 76, No. 5 (May, 1961), pp. 454–457. (JSTOR)
• Merton, Robert K.; Barber, Elinor G. The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Historical Semantics and the Sociology of Science, Princeton University Press, December 2003, ?ISBN
• Remer, Theodore G., ed. Serendipity and the Three Princes, from the Peregrinaggio of 1557, University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. LCC 65-10112

Further reading

• serendipity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia