sleep.
To rest in a state of reduced consciousness.
Meaning & usage
To rest in a state of reduced consciousness.
You should sleep eight hours a day.
To have sexual intercourse (see sleep with).
Last night we slept together for the first time.
To accommodate in beds.
This caravan can sleep four people comfortably.
To be careless, inattentive, or unconcerned; not to be vigilant; to live thoughtlessly.
To be dead.
To be, or appear to be, in repose; to be quiet; to be unemployed, unused, or unagitated; to rest; to lie dormant.
a question sleeps for the present; the law sleeps
To wait for a period of time without performing any action.
After a failed connection attempt, the program sleeps for 5 seconds before trying again.
To place into a state of hibernation.
To spin on its axis with no other perceptible motion.
When a top is sleeping, it is spinning without precessing.
To cause (a spinning top or yo-yo) to spin on its axis with no other perceptible motion.
To knock (someone) out (as, in a fight).
Where this word comes from
From Middle English slepen, from Anglian Old English slēpan (West Saxon Old English slǣpan), from Proto-West Germanic *slāpan, from Proto-Germanic *slēpaną (“to sleep”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian sleepe, sliap, sliip, släipe (“to sleep”), Saterland Frisian släipe (“to sleep”), West Frisian sliepe (“to sleep”), Alemannic German schlaaffe, schlaafä, schlafe, schloafe, schloafen, schlofe, schlàfu (“to sleep”), Bavarian schlofn, schlåfn, sghlofn (“to sleep”), Central Franconian schlofe (“to sleep”), Cimbrian slaafan, slafan, slavan (“to sleep”), Dutch and Low German slapen (“to sleep”), German schlafen (“to sleep”), Limburgish schloëpe, slaope (“to sleep”), Luxembourgish schlofen (“to sleep”), Mòcheno schloven (“to sleep”), Vilamovian šłȫfa, śłöfa (“to sleep”), Yiddish שלאָפֿן (shlofn, “to sleep”), Crimean Gothic schlipen (“to sleep”), Gothic 𐍃𐌻𐌴𐍀𐌰𐌽 (slēpan, “to sleep”).
The state of reduced consciousness during which a human or animal rests in a daily rhythm.
I really need some sleep.
We need to conduct an overnight sleep test to diagnose your sleep problem.
An act or instance of sleeping.
I’m just going to have a quick sleep.
a sound night’s sleep
A night.
There are only three sleeps till Christmas!
Rheum, crusty or gummy discharge found in the corner of the eyes after waking, whether real or a figurative objectification of sleep (in the sense of reduced consciousness).
A state of plants, usually at night, when their leaflets approach each other and the flowers close and droop, or are covered by the folded leaves.
The hibernation of animals.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English slepe, sleep, sleepe, from Old English slǣp (“sleep”), from Proto-West Germanic *slāp, from Proto-Germanic *slēpaz (“sleep”). Cognates Cognate with Yola slepe (“sleep”), Saterland Frisian Släip (“sleep”), West Frisian sliep (“sleep”), Dutch slaap (“sleep”), German Schlaf (“sleep”), Luxembourgish Schlof (“sleep”), Vilamovian šłȫf, śłöf (“sleep”), Yiddish שלאָף (shlof, “sleep”), Gothic 𐍃𐌻𐌴𐍀𐍃 (slēps, “sleep”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.