beauty sleep

American

noun

Informal.

sleep before midnight, assumed to be necessary for one's beauty.
any extra sleep.

beauty sleep British

noun

informal sleep, esp sleep before midnight

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of beauty sleep

First recorded in 1855–60

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.

Last month the 60-year-old tearfully announced she was leaving the station and her "lovely listener" so that she could "catch up on a much needed decade's deficit of beauty sleep".

From BBC • Aug. 26, 2022

"Get at least eight hours of beauty sleep, nine if you’re ugly," she said in 2011.

From Fox News • Dec. 12, 2021

This year, Cinderella stayed home to get some beauty sleep.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 27, 2019

Being more diligent about getting my beauty sleep.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 8, 2015

Lucinda is still sleeping her beauty sleep that will last all morning long.

From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023