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• Rip Van Winkle
  Rip Van Winkle

  noun

  (in a story by Washington Irving) a ne'er-do-well who sleeps 20 years and upon waking is startled to find how much the world has changed.
• “Rip Van Winkle”
  “Rip Van Winkle”

  (1819) A story by Washington Irving. The title character goes to sleep after a game of bowling and much drinking in the mountains with a band of dwarves. He awakens twenty years later, an old man. Back home, Rip finds that all has changed: his wife is dead, his daughter is married, and the American Revolutionary War has taken place.

Rip Van Winkle

American  

[rip van wing-kuhl] / ˌrɪp væn ˈwɪŋ kəl /

noun

1. (in a story by Washington Irving) a ne'er-do-well who sleeps 20 years and upon waking is startled to find how much the world has changed.

2. (italics) the story itself, published in The Sketch Book (1819).

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Rip Van Winkle British  

/ ˈrɪp væn ˈwɪŋkəl /

noun

1. a person who is oblivious to changes, esp in social attitudes or thought

2. a person who sleeps a lot

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“Rip Van Winkle” Cultural  

1. (1819) A story by Washington Irving. The title character goes to sleep after a game of bowling and much drinking in the mountains with a band of dwarves. He awakens twenty years later, an old man. Back home, Rip finds that all has changed: his wife is dead, his daughter is married, and the American Revolutionary War has taken place.

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Etymology

Origin of Rip Van Winkle

C19: from a character who slept for 20 years, in a story (1819) by Washington Irving (1783–1859), US writer

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Rip Van Winkle “Rip Van Winkle”

Irving’s whimsically inventive “Sketch Book” of stories introduced Rip Van Winkle, the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow and other timelessly folkloric figures to an eager readership.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026

A Rip Van Winkle who slept through the last half-century and awoke on Monday, Oct.

From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2025

Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery’s suggested retail price of Pappy 23-year-old is $299.99.

From Washington Times ● Mar. 8, 2023

In 2021, all three medalists in the “International Lager” category were Mexican lagers, including Rip Van Winkle Brewing’s Uncle Tito Mexican Lager.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 9, 2022

According to the tale told by Washington Irving, when Rip Van Winkle awoke and returned to his village, twenty years had passed, and many things had changed.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Irving became popular for his folklore-inspired tales of the Hudson Valley, including “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018

And a tale within a tale, with the compressed enactment of Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” story.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 30, 2015

The frequency with which “Rip Van Winkle” was dramatized would indicate that, very early in the nineteenth century, managers of the theatre were assiduous hunters after material which might be considered native.

From Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: Rip van Winkle by Burke, Charles

Last year the reception was given to Mrs. Dix, wife of the Governor of New York, and the play “Rip Van Winkle” was acted by eighteen hundred girls.

From The New Education A Review of Progressive Educational Movements of the Day (1915) by Nearing, Scott