sleep
//ˈsliːp//
Forms
- present (v1)
- sleep
- past (v2)
- slept
- past participle (v3)
- slept
- present participle
- sleeping
- 3rd person singular
- sleeps
- Plural
- sleeps
Definitions
1.To rest in a state of reduced consciousness.
- You should sleep eight hours a day.
- We sleep in the bedroom.
2.To 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.
3.To be careless, inattentive, or unconcerned; not to be vigilant; to live thoughtlessly.
- 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 have sexual intercourse (see sleep with).
- Last night we slept together for the first time.
1.The state of reduced consciousness during which a human or animal rests in a daily rhythm.
- We need to conduct an overnight sleep test to diagnose your sleep problem.
- I really need some sleep.
2.A night.(informal)
- There are only three sleeps till Christmas!
3.An act or instance of sleeping.(informal)
- I’m just going to have a quick sleep.
4.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).
- 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.
- 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.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1009
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Common
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Uncommon
Related words
Antonyms
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