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Entry 8 senses · 4 variants Webster, 1913

Sleep

/slēp/ · IPA /slip/
01 imp. imp. of Sleep. Slept.
  1. 1.
    imp. of Sleep. Slept.obs.
02 v. i. To take rest by a suspension of the voluntary exercise of the powers of the body and mind, and an apathy of the organs of sense; to slumber.
imp. & p. p. Slept; p. pr. & vb. n. Sleeping
  1. 1.
    To take rest by a suspension of the voluntary exercise of the powers of the body and mind, and an apathy of the organs of sense; to slumber.
    “Watching at the head of these that sleep.” — Milton.
  2. 2.
    To be careless, inattentive, or uncouncerned; not to be vigilant; to live thoughtlessly.
    “We sleep over our happiness.” — Atterbury.
  3. 3.
    To be dead; to lie in the grave.
    “Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” — 1 Thess. iv. 14.
  4. 4.
    To be, or appear to be, in repose; to be quiet; to be unemployed, unused, or unagitated; to rest; to lie dormant; as, a question sleeps for the present; the law sleeps.
    “How sweet the moonlight sleep upon this bank!” — Shak.
03 v. t. To be slumbering in; -- followed by a cognate object; as, to sleep a dreamless sleep.
  1. 1.
    To be slumbering in; -- followed by a cognate object; as, to sleep a dreamless sleep.
  2. 2.
    To give sleep to; to furnish with accomodations for sleeping; to lodge.[R.]
Phrases & compounds
To sleep away — to spend in sleep; as, to sleep away precious time.
To sleep off — to become free from by sleep; as, to sleep off drunkeness or fatigue.
04 n. A natural and healthy, but temporary and periodical, suspension of the functions of the organs of sense, as well as of those of the volunta…
  1. 1.
    A natural and healthy, but temporary and periodical, suspension of the functions of the organs of sense, as well as of those of the voluntary and rational soul; that state of the animal in which there is a lessened acuteness of sensory perception, a confusion of ideas, and a loss of mental control, followed by a more or less unconscious state.
    “O sleep, thou ape of death.” — Shak.
Phrases & compounds
Sleep of plants — 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.
Syn. Slumber; repose; rest; nap; doze; drowse.