Word: sleep Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From Middle English slepen, from Anglian Old English slēpan (West Saxon Old English slǣpan), from Proto-West Germanic *slāpan, from Proto-Germanic *slēpaną (“to sleep”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian sleepe, sliap, sliip, släipe (“to sleep”), Saterland Frisian släipe (“to sleep”), West Frisian sliepe (“to sleep”), Alemannic German schlaaffe, schlaafä, schlafe, schloafe, schloafen, schlofe, schlàfu (“to sleep”), Bavarian schlofn, schlåfn, sghlofn (“to sleep”), Central Franconian schlofe (“to sleep”), Cimbrian slaafan, slafan, slavan (“to sleep”), Dutch and Low German slapen (“to sleep”), German schlafen (“to sleep”), Limburgish schloëpe, slaope (“to sleep”), Luxembourgish schlofen (“to sleep”), Mòcheno schloven (“to sleep”), Vilamovian šłȫfa, śłöfa (“to sleep”), Yiddish שלאָפֿן (shlofn, “to sleep”), Crimean Gothic schlipen (“to sleep”), Gothic 𐍃𐌻𐌴𐍀𐌰𐌽 (slēpan, “to sleep”). Pronunciation: /ˈsliːp/, [ˈslɪi̯p] 1. To rest in a state of reduced consciousness. Labels: intransitive Example: You should sleep eight hours a day. Example: We sleep in the bedroom. 2. To have sexual intercourse (see sleep with). Labels: euphemistic, idiomatic Example: Last night we slept together for the first time. 3. To accommodate in beds. Labels: transitive Example: This caravan can sleep four people comfortably. Example: 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. 4. To be careless, inattentive, or unconcerned; not to be vigilant; to live thoughtlessly. Labels: idiomatic, intransitive Example: 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. Example: 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. 5. To be dead. Labels: euphemistic, idiomatic, intransitive Example: For if we beleeue that Ieſus died, and roſe againe: euen ſo them alſo which ſleepe in Ieſus, will God bring with him. Example: 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. 6. To be, or appear to be, in repose; to be quiet; to be unemployed, unused, or unagitated; to rest; to lie dormant. Labels: intransitive Example: a question sleeps for the present; the law sleeps Example: How ſweet the moone-light ſleepes vpon this banke,[…] 7. To wait for a period of time without performing any action. Labels: intransitive Example: After a failed connection attempt, the program sleeps for 5 seconds before trying again. 8. To place into a state of hibernation. Labels: transitive Example: 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. 9. To spin on its axis with no other perceptible motion. Labels: intransitive Example: When a top is sleeping, it is spinning without precessing. Example: A top sleeps when it moves with such velocity, and spins so smoothly, that its motion is imperceptible. 10. To cause (a spinning top or yo-yo) to spin on its axis with no other perceptible motion. Labels: transitive Example: Yo-yo tricks involving sleeping the yo-yo (like "walking the dog" and "rocking the baby") cannot be performed in space. 11. To knock (someone) out (as, in a fight). Labels: slang, transitive