sleep

verb

1. 1

   To rest in a state of reduced consciousness.

   You should sleep eight hours a day.

   We sleep in the bedroom.

2. 2

   To have sexual intercourse (see sleep with).

   Last night we slept together for the first time.

3. 3

   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.

4. 4

   To 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 other Men.

   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. 5

   To 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 for good and all beside her.

   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

6. 6

   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

   How ſweet the moone-light ſleepes vpon this banke,[…]

7. 7

   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.

8. 8

   To 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.

9. 9

   To spin on its axis with no other perceptible motion.

   When a top is sleeping, it is spinning without precessing.

   A top sleeps when it moves with such velocity, and spins so smoothly, that its motion is imperceptible.

10. 10

    To 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.

11. 11

    slangTo knock (someone) out (as, in a fight).

noun

1. 1

   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.

2. 2

   informalAn act or instance of sleeping.

   I’m just going to have a quick sleep.

   a sound night’s sleep

3. 3

   informalA night.

   There are only three sleeps till Christmas!

4. 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).

   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 in the eye.”

   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.

5. 5

   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.

   The daily sleep of plants, and their winter sleep, present in this respect exactly similar phenomena[…]

6. 6

   The hibernation of animals.

Forms

plural

sleeps

past tense

slept

past participle

slept

present participle

sleeping

third person singular

sleeps