sleep
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: slēp
ipa: /sliːp/
ipa: /slip/
rhymes: -iːp
Forms: form: sleeps
form: sleeping
form: slept
form: slept
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: sleep
form: sleep
form: slept
form: sleep
form: sleepest
form: slept
form: sleptst
form: sleptest
form: sleeps
form: sleepeth
form: slept
form: sleep
form: slept
form: sleep
form: slept
form: sleep
form: -
form: sleeping
form: slept
Etymology: From Middle English slepen, from Anglian Old English slēpan (West Saxon Old English slǣpan), from Proto-West Germanic *slāpan, from Proto-Germanic *slēpaną.
Senses: examples: text: You should sleep eight hours a day.
text: We sleep in the bedroom.
ref: 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
glosses: To rest in a state of reduced consciousness.
examples: text: Last night we slept together for the first time.
glosses: To have sexual intercourse (see sleep with).
examples: text: This caravan can sleep four people comfortably.
text: Huge red tents erected around our small yellow one. Huge red tents that could sleep 8 and instead sleep 2. Lawn furniture is scattered about, duffle bags arrive, the clatter of pots and pans.
ref: 1982 February 13, Lee Swislow, “Amazon Trekking”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 29, page 9:
glosses: To accommodate in beds.
examples: text: We ſleep over our Happineſs, Great as it is, and want to be rous'd into a quick and thankful ſenſe of it, either by an actual Change of Circumſtances, or by a Compariſon of our Own caſe with that of other Men.
ref: 1706 October 9 (Gregorian calendar), Francis Atterbury, “A Sermon Preach’d in the Guild-Hall Chapel, London, Sept. 28. 1706. Being the Day of the Election of the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor.”, in Fourteen Sermons Preach’d on Several Occasions. […], London: […] E. P. [Edmund Parker?] for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1708, →OCLC, page 407:
text: Huge red tents erected around our small yellow one. Huge red tents that could sleep 8 and instead sleep 2. Lawn furniture is scattered about, duffle bags arrive, the clatter of pots and pans.
ref: 1982 February 13, Lee Swislow, “Amazon Trekking”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 29, page 9:
glosses: To be careless, inattentive, or unconcerned; not to be vigilant; to live thoughtlessly.
examples: text: For if we beleeue that Ieſus died, and roſe againe: euen ſo them alſo which ſleepe in Ieſus, will God bring with him.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Thessalonians 4:14, column 2:
text: It was that of a man in advanced life, with a long grizzled beard, and also robed in white, probably the husband of the lady, who, after surviving her many years, came at the last to sleep once more for good and all beside her.
ref: 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
text: Then bury me beneath the willow
Beneath the weeping willow tree
And when he knows that I am sleeping
Perhaps he will weep for me
ref: b. 1909, traditional, “Under The Willow Tree”:
glosses: To be dead.
examples: text: a question sleeps for the present; the law sleeps
text: How ſweet the moone-light ſleepes vpon this banke,[…]
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 182, column 2:
glosses: To be, or appear to be, in repose; to be quiet; to be unemployed, unused, or unagitated; to rest; to lie dormant.
examples: text: After a failed connection attempt, the program sleeps for 5 seconds before trying again.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To wait for a period of time without performing any action.
examples: text: Even when you have reasons not to sleep the computer, it's still a good idea to sleep the display after a period of time.
ref: 2009, Mike Lee, Scott Meyers, Learn Mac OS X Snow Leopard, page 91:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To place into a state of hibernation.
examples: text: When a top is sleeping, it is spinning but not precessing.
text: A top sleeps when it moves with such velocity, and spins so smoothly, that its motion is imperceptible.
ref: 1854, Anne E. Baker, Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases:
topics: engineering
mechanical-engineering
mechanics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
qualifier: dynamics
glosses: To spin on its axis with no other perceptible motion.
examples: text: Yo-yo tricks involving sleeping the yo-yo (like "walking the dog" and "rocking the baby") cannot be performed in space.
ref: 1995, All Aboard for Space: Introducing Space to Youngsters, page 158:
topics: engineering
mechanical-engineering
mechanics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
qualifier: dynamics
glosses: To cause (a spinning top or yo-yo) to spin on its axis with no other perceptible motion.
Synonyms: word: crash
word: doze
word: repose
word: rest
word: saw logs
word: catch some z's
word: sleep
word: sleep a wink
word: slumber
word: snooze
Hyponyms: word: catnap
word: doss
word: nap
word: noon
Meronyms: word: dream
word: saw wood
word: snore
word: sleepwalk
word: somnambulate
Derived terms: besleep
coldsleep
colorless green ideas sleep furiously
does Dolly Parton sleep on her back
forsleep
how can you sleep at night
how do you sleep at night
hypersleep
non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder
outsleep
oversleep
sleep around
sleep-at-noon
sleep a wink
sleep easy
sleep-eat
sleep flower
sleep-fuck
sleep funny
sleep in
sleeping bag
Sleeping Beauty
sleeping pill
sleep in heavenly peace
sleep in with
sleepiphany
sleep it off
sleep it out
sleep like a baby
sleep like a dog
sleep like a log
sleep like a mouse
sleep like a rock
sleep like a top
sleep off
sleep on
sleep one off
sleep out
sleep over
sleep rough
sleep together
sleep under the same bridge
sleepwalk
sleep well
sleep with
sleep with one eye open
sleep with one's fathers
sleep with the fishes
sleepwort
undersleep
whatever helps you sleep at night
Related terms: word: catnap
word: rest
word: shuteye
word: sleeping
word: slumber
word: snooze
word: zzz
word: count sheep
word: shut-eye
word: fall asleep
word: go to bed
word: wake
word: sleepy
word: soporific