sleeper

American  

[slee-per] / ˈsli pər /

noun

1. a person or thing that sleeps.

2. a heavy horizontal timber for distributing loads.

3. Building Trades.

   1. any long wooden, metal, or stone piece lying horizontally as a sill or footing.

   2. any of a number of wooden pieces, laid upon the ground or upon masonry or concrete, to which floorboards are nailed.

4. a sleeping car.

5. Informal. something or someone that becomes unexpectedly successful or important after a period of being unnoticed, ignored, or considered unpromising or a failure.

   The play was the sleeper of the season.

6. merchandise that is not quickly sold because its value is not immediately recognized.

7. Often sleepers. one-piece or two-piece pajamas with feet, especially for children.

8. bunting.

9. a sofa, chair, or other piece of furniture that is designed to open up or unfold into a bed; convertible.

10. Also called sleep, sand.  a globule that forms at the inner corner of the eye, especially during sleep, from the accumulated secretion of the glands of the eyelid.

11. any of several gobioid fishes of the family Eleotridae, of tropical seas, most species of which have the habit of resting quietly on the bottom.

12. Slang. a spy; mole.

13. Slang. a juvenile delinquent sentenced to serve more than nine months.

14. Bowling. a pin that is hidden from view by another pin.

15. Chiefly British. a timber or beam laid in a railroad track, serving as a foundation or support for the rails; tie.

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sleeper British  

/ ˈsliːpə /

noun

1. a person, animal, or thing that sleeps

2. a railway sleeping car or compartment

3. US and Canadian equivalent: tie.  one of the blocks supporting the rails on a railway track

4. a heavy timber beam, esp one that is laid horizontally on the ground

5. a small plain gold circle worn in a pierced ear lobe to prevent the hole from closing up

6. a wrestling hold in which a wrestler presses the sides of his opponent's neck, causing him to pass out

7. an unbranded calf

8. Also called: sleeper goby.  any gobioid fish of the family Eleotridae, of brackish or fresh tropical waters, resembling the gobies but lacking a ventral sucker

9. informal a person or thing that achieves unexpected success after an initial period of obscurity

10. a spy planted in advance for future use, but not currently active

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Etymology

Origin of sleeper

Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225; see origin at sleep, -er ¹

Explanation

A sleeper is something that succeeds when no one thought it would. That low-tech movie about shark attacks that you shot on vacation and edited in your basement? It could be a sleeper if you market it in the right way. You probably know that sleeper can be used in an obvious sense to refer to someone who is asleep. But you also may hear the word used to describe something that becomes an unexpected success, like "a sleeper of a film" featuring unknown actors that ends up becoming the big summer hit. This sense of the word may have originated in the world of gambling in the nineteenth century. When a card player unexpectedly drew a winning card, the card was called "a sleeper."

Example Sentences

Sleeper cells are active inside the camps and weapons have been confiscated during searches by Kurdish and U.S. forces, according to camp administrators, Kurdish counterterrorism and military officials, U.N. investigators and interviews with detainees.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 24, 2025

Since 2021, European Sleeper has raised 5.5 million euros in two separate fundraising campaigns.

From Barron's • Nov. 12, 2025

Caledonian Sleeper services would also have been impacted by strike action.

From BBC • Aug. 26, 2024

Jim Sleeper, a veteran journalist and author who has covered campus free-speech issues for years, witnessed the Vietnam War and civil rights protests of the 1960s and the Iraq war protests of the 2000s.

From Salon • May 2, 2024

The Sleeper was still out there, and as the danger grew, more Pandavas would be required.

From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi

Related Words

• agent
• detective
• informer
• investigator
• mole
• operative
• secret agent
• secret service
• undercover agent