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View synonyms for forty winks
forty winks
noun
, Informal.
- a short nap.
forty winks
noun
- informal.functioning as singular or plural a short light sleep; nap
forty winks
- A nap; a short sleep: “If you're feeling drowsy, take forty winks; I'll wake you when our guests arrive.”
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Word History and Origins
Origin of forty winks1
First recorded in 1815–25
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Idioms and Phrases
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.Discover More
Example Sentences
And then father, tired from his morning services, snatched a "forty-winks."
From Project Gutenberg
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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.
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