sleep with

British  

verb

1. Also: sleep together.  (intr, preposition) to have sexual intercourse and (usually) spend the night with

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sleep with Idioms  

1. Be sexually intimate with, as in The playwright had made several attempts to sleep with the maid. The related phrase sleep together means “have sexual relations,” as in We wondered if they were sleeping together but didn't dare to ask them. The verb sleep has been associated with sex since the 10th century. Sleep with dates from the 1300s sleep together was first recorded a century later.

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Example Sentences

“Trying to sleep with my head up against the window, with turning curves and every mountaintop,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 21, 2026

“Families travel with the stones, share them with friends and loved ones, children paint on them; some people keep them in their pockets, and even sleep with them under their pillow,” he says.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 6, 2025

“When she’s away, I sleep with a night-light,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 18, 2025

"I wake up with this, and I go to sleep with this, and people don't understand," she told me.

From BBC • Mar. 7, 2025

Cynthia's mother worked all day and went to school all evening, and when Cynthia was a baby, her mother would rock her to sleep with bedtime stories read out of night school textbooks.

From "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds