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.

All the while, Pippi savored her beauty sleep, and Palacios contemplated grabbing a contingency ladder to retrieve her.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 16, 2025

But, she said she had to step down "to catch up on a much needed decade's deficit of beauty sleep".

From BBC • Jul. 28, 2022

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

From Fox News • Dec. 12, 2021

Because of this, the whole world was waiting on the edge of its seat for a result while Nevada got some beauty sleep.

From The Guardian • Dec. 28, 2020

"Mother says he needs his beauty sleep," Belet answered, and to give her credit, she didn't sound entirely happy with her mother's strategy in finding Nergal.

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

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