/sliːp/, /slip/
OriginFrom 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”).
- intransitiveTo rest in a state of reduced consciousness.
“You should sleep eight hours a day.”
“We sleep in the bedroom.”
- euphemistic, idiomaticTo have sexual intercourse (see sleep with).
“Last night we slept together for the first time.”
- transitiveTo accommodate in beds.
“This caravan can sleep four people comfortably.”
“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.”
- idiomatic, intransitiveTo be careless, inattentive, or unconcerned; not to be vigilant; to live thoughtlessly.
“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 o”
“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.”
- euphemistic, idiomatic, intransitiveTo be dead.
“For if we beleeue that Ieſus died, and roſe againe: euen ſo them alſo which ſleepe in Ieſus, will God bring with him.”
“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 f”
“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”
- intransitiveTo 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”
“How ſweet the moone-light ſleepes vpon this banke,[…]”
- intransitiveTo wait for a period of time without performing any action.
“After a failed connection attempt, the program sleeps for 5 seconds before trying again.”
- transitiveTo place into a state of hibernation.
“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.”
- intransitiveTo spin on its axis with no other perceptible motion.
“When a top is sleeping, it is spinning but not precessing.”
“A top sleeps when it moves with such velocity, and spins so smoothly, that its motion is imperceptible.”
- transitiveTo cause (a spinning top or yo-yo) to spin on its axis with no other perceptible motion.
“Yo-yo tricks involving sleeping the yo-yo (like "walking the dog" and "rocking the baby") cannot be performed in space.”
- uncountableThe 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, informalAn act or instance of sleeping.
“I’m just going to have a quick sleep.”
“a sound night’s sleep”
- countable, informal, metonymically, uncountableA night.
“There are only three sleeps till Christmas!”
- uncountableRheum, 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).
“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.”
“But it rings
And we rise,
Wipe the sleep out of our eyes[…]”
“[...] 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 i”
- countable, uncountableA 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.
“The daily sleep of plants, and their winter sleep, present in this respect exactly similar phenomena[…]”
- countable, uncountableThe hibernation of animals.
Formssleeps(present, singular, third-person) · sleeping(participle, present) · slept(participle, past) · slept(past) · sleep(infinitive) · sleep(first-person, present, singular) · slept(first-person, past, singular) · sleep(present, second-person, singular) · sleepest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · slept(past, second-person, singular) · sleptst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · sleptest(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · sleepeth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · slept(past, singular, third-person) · sleep(plural, present) · slept(past, plural) · sleep(present, subjunctive) · slept(past, subjunctive) · sleep(imperative, present) · -(imperative, past)