sleep
Americanverb (used without object)
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sleeps,
present (3rd person singular)
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slept,
past participle, past
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sleeping
present participle
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to take the rest afforded by a suspension of voluntary bodily functions and the natural suspension, complete or partial, of consciousness; cease being awake.
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Botany. to assume, especially at night, a state similar to the sleep of animals, marked by closing of petals, leaves, etc.
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to be dormant, quiescent, or inactive, as faculties.
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to be careless or unalert; allow one's alertness, vigilance, or attentiveness to lie dormant.
While England slept, Germany prepared for war.
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to lie in death.
They are sleeping in their tombs.
verb (used with object)
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sleeps,
present (3rd person singular)
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slept,
past participle, past
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sleeping
present participle
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to take rest in (a specified kind of sleep).
He slept the sleep of the innocent.
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to accommodate for sleeping; have sleeping accommodations for.
This trailer sleeps three people.
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to spend or pass in sleep (usually followed by away orout ).
to sleep the day away.
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to recover from the effects of (a headache, hangover, etc.) by sleeping (usually followed by off oraway ).
noun
verb phrase
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sleep together to be sexual partners; have a sexual relationship.
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sleep around to have sexual relations with many partners, especially in a casual way; be sexually promiscuous.
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sleep over to spend one or more nights in a place other than one's own home.
Two friends will sleep over this weekend.
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sleep out
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(especially of domestic help) to sleep away from one's place of employment.
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Chiefly Northern U.S. to sleep away from one's home.
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to sleep outdoors.
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sleep on to postpone making a decision about for at least a day.
to sleep on a proposal till the end of the week.
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sleep in
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(especially of domestic help) to sleep where one is employed.
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to sleep beyond one's usual time of arising.
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sleep with to have sexual relations with.
idioms
noun
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a periodic state of physiological rest during which consciousness is suspended and metabolic rate is decreased See also paradoxical sleep
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botany the nontechnical name for nyctitropism
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a period spent sleeping
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a state of quiescence or dormancy
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a poetic or euphemistic word for death
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informal the dried mucoid particles often found in the corners of the eyes after sleeping
verb
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(intr) to be in or as in the state of sleep
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(intr) (of plants) to show nyctitropism
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(intr) to be inactive or quiescent
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(tr) to have sleeping accommodation for (a certain number)
the boat could sleep six
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to pass (time) sleeping
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(intr) to fail to pay attention
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poetic (intr) to be dead
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to give (something) extended consideration, esp overnight
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A natural, reversible state of rest in most vertebrate animals, occurring at regular intervals and necessary for the maintenance of health. During sleep, the eyes usually close, the muscles relax, and responsiveness to external stimuli decreases. Growth and repair of the tissues of the body are thought to occur, and energy is conserved and stored. In humans and certain other animals, sleep occurs in five stages, the first four consisting of non-REM sleep and the last stage consisting of REM sleep. These stages constitute a sleep cycle that repeats itself about five times during a normal episode of sleep. Each cycle is longer that the one preceding it because the length of the REM stage increases with every cycle until waking occurs. Stage I is characterized by drowsiness, Stage II by light sleep, and Stages III and IV by deep sleep. Stages II and III repeat themselves before REM sleep (Stage V), which occurs about 90 minutes after the onset of sleep. During REM sleep, dreams occur, and memory is thought to be organized. In the stages of non-REM sleep, there are no dreams, and brain activity decreases while the body recovers from wakeful activity. The amount and periodicity of sleep in humans vary with age, with infants sleeping frequently for shorter periods, and mature adults sleeping for longer uninterrupted periods.
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See also non-REM sleep REM sleep
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sleepsimple
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sleepssimple
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have sleptperfect
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has sleptperfect
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am sleepingprogressive
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are sleepingprogressive
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is sleepingprogressive
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have been sleepingperfect progressive
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has been sleepingperfect progressive
Past
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sleptsimple
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had sleptperfect
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was sleepingprogressive
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were sleepingprogressive
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had been sleepingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sleep
First recorded before 900; (for the noun) Middle English; Old English slēp (Anglian), slǣp, slāp; cognate with Dutch slaap, German Schlaf, Gothic slēps; (for the verb) Middle English slepen, Old English slēpan, slǣpan, slāpan, cognate with Old Saxon slāpan, Gothic slēpan
Explanation
If you're tired, you probably need to sleep so lie down and close your eyes. When you wake up, you'll feel much better. Everyone needs sleep and most of us get some at least once a day. Maybe that's why sleep is used in so many expressions. If you “sleep on it” you'll wait to make a decision until tomorrow. If you “sleep over,” you stay at someone's place for the night. A person who “lets sleeping dogs lie” knows when not to stir up trouble. If you slip into eternal sleep, you won't be needing any more naps.
Vocabulary lists containing sleep
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Another possibility is that the transfer of metabolic resources from astrocytes to neurons changes during REM sleep.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
When I get paid once a month, I pay my rent for the month and stock up on food, so I have a place to sleep and enough to eat.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
An MSP who faced ridicule over a blunder at a Holyrood committee has said she suffered a "momentary lapse" brought on by lack of sleep and a chest infection.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
Then I’ll come out my room, which is a freezer — it’s literally 59 degrees because I gotta sleep in the cold — to warm up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
Many of them sleep crowded on the floor.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
EEG measurements can reveal much more than how long someone sleeps or how often they wake up.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
"Nobody sleeps here at the moment. People talk about moving out, houses are losing value."
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
At night, he makes his bed on it and sleeps in the open.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
State courts have repeatedly ruled that there is no single way to determine where someone lives, and judges must consider multiple factors, such as where a voter sleeps or stores personal belongings.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
Into the silence Cecilia said, as if there were nothing between her and her sister, “He sleeps so deeply. I didn’t want to wake him.”
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Her children slept in hammocks, and her “very capable cook with six assistants” served them 15 to 20 dishes a day, she wrote.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
He allegedly slept on the cement floor of a cell and told reporters that he was “not doing well.”
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026
She slept in the cafe, her thin frame curled up in a red vinyl booth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
The oligarch paid to rent out one of the private islands, where a reception was held and where guests slept.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
We slept all through the rest of that day, and through the night.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
People often imagine Yellowstone as a sleeping “supervolcano.”
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
Chaos erupted, sleeping soldiers were awakened and some ended up designated as dead, the Danish commander said with evident satisfaction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
She recalled sleeping in her car in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel for a few nights because she had spent all her money on acquiring the computers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
There are a lot of setbacks, and a lot of sleeping in the office, especially in the first five or 10 years.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
That night I dreamed, half awake, half sleeping.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
