From Middle Englishslepen, from Anglian Old Englishslēpan (West Saxon Old Englishslǣpan), from Proto-West Germanic*slāpan, from Proto-Germanic*slēpaną(“to sleep”).
[edit]Wikidata has a Lexeme related to:sleep (L1342)A sleeping child
sleep (third-person singular simple present sleeps, present participle sleeping, simple past and past participle slept)
(intransitive) To rest in a state of reduced consciousness. Synonyms:see Thesaurus:sleepYou should sleep eight hours a day.
2016, VOA Learning English (public domain) We sleep in the bedroom.
(idiomatic, euphemistic) To have sexual intercourse (see sleep with). Last night we slept together for the first time.
(transitive) To accommodate in beds. This caravan can sleep four people comfortably.
1982 February 13, Lee Swislow, “Amazon Trekking”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 29, page 9: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.
(intransitive, idiomatic) To be careless, inattentive, or unconcerned; not to be vigilant; to live thoughtlessly.
1706 October 9 (date delivered; 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: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.
1982 February 13, Lee Swislow, “Amazon Trekking”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 29, page 9: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.
(intransitive, euphemistic, idiomatic) To be dead.
1611, The Holy Bible,[…] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker,[…], →OCLC, 1 Thessalonians 4:14, column 2:For if we beleeue that Ieſus died, and roſe againe: euen ſo them alſo which ſleepe in Ieſus, will God bring with him.
1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC: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.
b. 1909, traditional, “Under The Willow Tree”:Then bury me beneath the willowBeneath the weeping willow treeAnd when he knows that I am sleepingPerhaps he will weep for me
(intransitive) To be, or appear to be, in repose; to be quiet; to be unemployed, unused, or unagitated; to rest; to lie dormant. a question sleeps for the present; the law sleeps
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:How ſweet the moone-light ſleepes vpon this banke,[…]
(computing, intransitive) To wait for a period of time without performing any action. After a failed connection attempt, the program sleeps for 5 seconds before trying again.
(computing, transitive) To place into a state of hibernation.
2009, Mike Lee, Scott Meyers, Learn Mac OS X Snow Leopard, page 91: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.
(intransitive, mechanics, dynamics) To spin on its axis with no other perceptible motion. When a top is sleeping, it is spinning but not precessing.
1854, Anne E. Baker, Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases:A top sleeps when it moves with such velocity, and spins so smoothly, that its motion is imperceptible.
(transitive, mechanics, dynamics) To cause (a spinning top or yo-yo) to spin on its axis with no other perceptible motion.
1995, All Aboard for Space: Introducing Space to Youngsters, page 158:Yo-yo tricks involving sleeping the yo-yo (like "walking the dog" and "rocking the baby") cannot be performed in space.
Conjugation
[edit]
Conjugation of sleep
infinitive
(to) sleep
present tense
past tense
1st-person singular
sleep
slept
2nd-person singular
sleep, sleepest†
slept, sleptst†, sleptest†
3rd-person singular
sleeps, sleepeth†
slept
plural
sleep
subjunctive
sleep
slept
imperative
sleep
—
participles
sleeping
slept
† Archaic or obsolete.
Troponyms
[edit]
(rest in a state of reduced consciousness): nap, doze, snooze
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations. Translations to be checked
From Middle Englishslepe, sleep, sleepe, from Old Englishslǣp(“sleep”), from Proto-West Germanic*slāp, from Proto-Germanic*slēpaz(“sleep”).
Cognates
Cognate with Yolaslepe(“sleep”), Saterland FrisianSläip(“sleep”), West Frisiansliep(“sleep”), Dutchslaap(“sleep”), GermanSchlaf(“sleep”), LuxembourgishSchlof(“sleep”), Vilamovianšłȫf, śłöf(“sleep”), Yiddishשלאָף(shlof, “sleep”), Gothic𐍃𐌻𐌴𐍀𐍃(slēps, “sleep”).
Alternative forms
[edit]
sleepe(obsolete)
Noun
[edit]Wikidata has a Lexeme related to:sleep (L27105)
sleep (countable and uncountable, plural sleeps)
(uncountable) The state of reduced consciousness during which a human or animal rests in a daily rhythm. I really need some sleep.We need to conduct an overnight sleep test to diagnose your sleep problem.
(countable, informal) An act or instance of sleeping. I’m just going to have a quick sleep.a sound night’s sleep
(informal, metonymic) A night. There are only three sleeps till Christmas!
(uncountable) Rheum, crusty or gummy discharge found in the corner of the eyes after waking, whether real or a figurative objectification of sleep (in the sense of reduced consciousness). Synonyms:see Thesaurus:sleep
1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 233:When she had rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and wept till she was tired, she set out on her way and walked for many, many a day, till she at last came to a big mountain.
1980, “Daydream Believer”[1]performed by Anne Murray:But it ringsAnd we rise,Wipe the sleep out of our eyes[…]
2017, Adam J. Fisch, Neuroanatomy: Draw It to Know It, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:[...] and draw the medial canthus (aka medial commissure) at the medial extreme. Now draw the lacrimal caruncle at the medial corner of the eye, which produces whitish, oily fluid—it produces “sleep in the eye.”
2019, Jahangir Moini, Anatomy and Physiology for Health Professionals, Jones & Bartlett Learning (→ISBN), page 780, entry "Medial canthus": The part of the eyelid that is the location of the lacrimal caruncle, which produces rheum or "sleep," the gritty substance often present when awakening.
(botany) A state of plants, usually at night, when their leaflets approach each other and the flowers close and droop, or are covered by the folded leaves. Synonyms:nyctinasty, nyctitropism
1843, Joh Müller, John Bell, Elements of Physiology, page 808:The daily sleep of plants, and their winter sleep, present in this respect exactly similar phenomena[…]
