forty winks

American  

noun

Informal.

1. a short nap.

---

forty winks British  

noun

1. informal (functioning as singular or plural) a short light sleep; nap

---

forty winks Cultural  

1. A nap; a short sleep: “If you're feeling drowsy, take forty winks; I'll wake you when our guests arrive.”

---

forty winks Idioms  

1. A brief nap, as in There's just time for forty winks before we have to leave. This expression supposedly was first recorded in 1828 and relies on wink in the sense of “sleep,” a usage dating from the 14th century.

---

Etymology

Origin of forty winks

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

We probably all know about counting sheep, or letting sleeping dogs lie, but the facts about forty winks in the animal kingdom are still subject to debate.

From BBC • Mar. 3, 2014

Then I managed to get forty winks or so of sleep around sunrise.

From "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney

You haven’t had forty winks for about four nights.

From In the Whirl of the Rising by Mitford, Bertram

After I have had my "forty winks" and my nerves forget that baby, I shall remember it all.

From Daisy the autobiography of a cat by Swan, Miranda Eliot

Nothing is so likely to start a day of depression than failure to get up promptly, lounging around with forty winks here and there, reading in bed, and the like.

From Psychotherapy by Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)