swan song
noun
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Swans don't sing. They whistle or trumpet, or in the case of the swan most common in ponds, the mute swan, they only hiss and snort. But according to ancient legend, the swan does sing one beautiful song in its life-just before it dies. References in English to the dying swan's lovely singing go back as far as Chaucer, but the term swan song itself didn't appear in the language until the 1830s, when Thomas Carlyle used it in Sartor Resartus. Carlyle probably based his "swan song" on the German version of the term, which is Schwanengesang or Schwanenlied.
Examples of swan song in a Sentence
Brian Truitt, USA Today, 24 May 2025
However, the company last presented an Artisanal collection for spring 2024, a blockbuster that ended up being the swan song of British designer John Galliano, who spent 10 years leading the house.
—Miles Socha, Footwear News, 12 May 2025
The Sabbath swan song, which will also be Ozzy’s final solo show, has the 76-year-old metal legend pushing himself to deliver a curtain call worthy of his nearly 60-year career.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 9 May 2025
July Fourth fireworks are coming early to the summer box office, thanks to the combo of Disney’s live-action redo Lilo & Stitch and Paramount’s latest Mission: Impossible movie, which marks Tom Cruise’s swan song as stealth spy Ethan Hunt.
—Pamela McClintock, HollywoodReporter, 22 May 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Swan song.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/swan%20song. Accessed 12 Jun. 2025.
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