sleep-out
Americanadjective
noun
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a person who lives elsewhere than at the place of employment.
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an act or instance of sleeping outdoors.
verb
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(esp of a tramp) to sleep in the open air
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to sleep away from the place of work
noun
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Sleep at home, as opposed to one's place of employment, as in We have a full-time nurse for her, but she sleeps out . [Mid-1800s]
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Sleep away from one's own home, as in She's not here; she's sleeping out .
Etymology
Origin of sleep-out
First recorded in 1910–15; adj., noun use of verb phrase sleep out
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.
See Examples For:
Isaac’s mom, Melissa Ortman, was a little worried that night, she said, but after the bear left, she and Andrew gave the okay for the sleep-out to continue.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 30, 2023
More intrepid travelers might want to try the sleep-out experience in a Star Cube tent and drift off under a ceiling of stars.
From Seattle Times ● May 5, 2022
Charity camper Max Woosey has marked two years of sleeping under canvas with a global sleep-out.
From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2022
The "world's largest ever sleep-out event"- billed as a Live Aid for Scottish homelessness - is to take place in Edinburgh.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2017
Five rooms and a sleep-out porch is enough for a beginning.
From Just Around the Corner Romance en casserole by Fannie Hurst
“There’s some people that sleep out here every night, but then there might be another 1,000 that are just flowing through here, whether it’s from International District, Ballard, Burien, all the other hot spots.”
From Seattle Times ● May 12, 2024
Above, people whose homes were damaged sleep out in Marrakesh.
From NewsForKids.net ● Sep. 12, 2023
I said, picking sleep out of my eyes, reaching for my Uptempos.
From Salon ● Apr. 28, 2023
They sleep out in the open and in tents provided by civil society groups and authorities.
From Reuters ● Mar. 14, 2023
Stretching, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes along with a dream he would never recover.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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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.