Meanings
plural Florence Nightingales
- figurativelyAn outstanding nurse
All Our Women Are Florence Nightingales
1994, Mary Elizabeth Massey, Women in the Civil War, page 432 more examples
But there is no Florence Nightingale here . Patients , and those who pay good prices too , pass long , weary nights without attendance
1880, The National Conference of Charities and Corrections (p. 309)Mary Seacole, the Florence Nightingale of Jamaica
1996, M Gustafson, “Mary Seacole, the Florence Nightingale of Jamaica”, in PubMed
Origin
Appellativisation of Florence Nightingale
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Florence Nightingale. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Florence%20Nightingale
“Florence Nightingale.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Florence%20Nightingale. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Florence Nightingale,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Florence%20Nightingale.
Source: Florence Nightingale on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.