Dictionary

swan song en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Calque of German Schwanenlied(from Schwan + Lied) or Schwanengesang; from the belief that the mute swan sings before dying.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) A final performance or accomplishment, especially one before retirement.
   • In no other way can be explained our sacrifices and martyrdoms. For no other reason did Rudolph Mendenhall flame out his soul for the Cause and sing his wild swan-song that last night of life. 1908 February 19, Jack London, The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC:
   • "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"[…]—a pretentious volume which Mark Twain really considered his last. "It's my swan-song, my retirement from literature permanently," he wrote Howells, though certainly he was young, fifty-four, to have reached this conclusion. 1916, Albert Bigelow Paine, The Boys' Life of Mark Twain:
   • Je ne parle pas français. That was her swan song for me. 1918 February (date written), Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Je ne parle pas français”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 114:
   • Merkel’s political and scientific sides slug it out in swan song presser [title] 2021 July 22, Philip Oltermann, “Merkel’s political and scientific sides slug it out in swan song presser”, in The Guardian:
   • […]McCartney III could mark the end of his recording career. For a musician as continually prolific as McCartney (this is his 18th solo record), that seems unlikely. But if it is indeed a swan song, McCartney III will stand as a proper coda for the singer-songwriter we’ve been listening to for fifty-odd years: sentimental yet strong, a bit wistful, but as always, looking ahead. 2020 November 9, Gwen Ihnat, “With McCartney III, Paul McCartney offers lessons from a legendary life”, in The A.V. Club:
   • [S]pielberg was keen to stress that The Fabelmans is not a full stop: “It is not because I decided to retire, and this is my swan song, don’t believe that.” 2022 October 22, Wendy Ide, quoting Steven Spielberg, “‘It’s a way to bring my mum and dad back’: Steven Spielberg on the new wave of cine-memoirs”, in The Guardian:
   • Yet, on the whole, our good Saint-Pierre is musical, poetical though most morbid: we will call his Book the swan-song of old dying France. 1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter VIII, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book II (The Paper Age):

Forms

Synonyms

final act · farewell performance · last hurrah

Translations (32)

nn svanesong (a final performance) · it canto del cigno (a final performance) · el κύκνειο άσμα (a final performance) · fr chant du cygne (a final performance) · ko 절창 (a final performance) · he שירת הברבור (a final performance) · de Schwanengesang (a final performance) · pt canto de cisne (a final performance) · cmn 謝幕 /谢幕 (a final performance) · da svanesang (a final performance) · nb svanesang (a final performance) · pt canção de cisne (a final performance) · pl łabędzi śpiew (a final performance) · ru лебеди́ная пе́сня (a final performance) · rsk лебедова писня (a final performance) · cs labutí píseň (a final performance) · bg лебедова песен (a final performance) · nl zwanenzang (a final performance) · ro cântecul lebedei (a final performance) · et luigelaul (a final performance) · se svanesång (a final performance) · ja 絶唱 (a final performance) · eo cignokanto (a final performance) · fi joutsenlaulu (a final performance) · sv svanesång (a final performance) · is svanasöngur (a final performance) · hu hattyúdal (a final performance) · es canto del cisne (a final performance) · cmn 絕唱 /绝唱 (a final performance) · pt canto do cisne (a final performance) · pt canção do cisne (a final performance) · ca cant del cigne (a final performance)