forty winks

American  

noun

Informal.

1. a short nap.

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forty winks British  

noun

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

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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.”

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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.

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Etymology

Origin of forty winks

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

forty winks

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

I’ll take forty winks here until she’s ready.”

From The Moonlit Way by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

You are wondering how you will manage to get forty winks here, eh, comrade?

From The Strange Story of Rab R?by by M?r J?kai

And now, if you’ll excuse me, Miss Commerell, I’ll go and take my usual forty winks, if those ‘kinders’ will let me.”

From John Ames, Native Commissioner A Romance of the Matabele Rising by Bertram Mitford