sleep

Less common meanings

6. 6
   eye crustnoununcountable

   Crusty or gummy discharge, also called rheum, that collects in the corners of the eyes during sleep.

   He wiped the sleep from his eyes before checking the clock.

   A bit of sleep had gathered overnight in the corner of her eye.

   UsageUsually in rub or wipe the sleep from your eyes, or out of them.

   Similargunk, crust

   Note

   Here the state is turned into a substance. The crust in the eye takes its name from the rest that leaves it behind, as if sleep itself had settled there. It is mostly dried mucus with skin cells and dust, which builds up because closed eyes stop blinking it away. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The eye-discharge sense represents sleep as a substance. en.wiktionary.org
   • Discharge accumulates during sleep because blinking stops clearing it away. en.wikipedia.org
7. 7
   verbintransitive

   To hold off on a decision until the following day so there is time to consider it carefully; used with on.

   Don't sign anything tonight; sleep on it and call the dealer tomorrow.

   The committee agreed to sleep on the proposal before taking a vote.

   UsageMostly in sleep on it, often as let me sleep on it. Keep the on: sleep with means something else.

8. 8
   lie dormantverbintransitive

   To be or appear to be at rest; to lie quiet, dormant, or unused.

   Ancient cities still sleep beneath the shifting desert sands.

   The volcano had slept for centuries before it erupted.

   Similarlie, rest, slumber

   Note

   Its subjects are rarely people: a question sleeps for the present, the law sleeps, and in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice the moonlight "sleeps upon this bank". Said of a law or a question, it means lying unused or undecided, ready to be woken. Said of light or landscape, it is a poet's word for stillness. The subject decides which reading you get. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice contains the quoted words; Lorenzo speaks them in Act 5, scene 1. folger.edu
9. 9
   be deadverbeuphemisticidiomaticintransitive

   To be dead, framed gently as a kind of permanent rest.

   The poet wrote that heroes sleep on long after their final battle.

   Here sleeps a woman much loved by her town.

   Similarrest, lie

   Note

   Death is described as rest, often with a hope of waking. The King James Bible of 1611 speaks of "them also which sleep in Jesus". In H. Rider Haggard's She, a man, probably the dead woman's husband, comes "to sleep once more for good and all" beside her. The traditional song Under the Willow Tree has "when he knows that I am sleeping." Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. en.wikipedia.org
   • H. Rider Haggard wrote She. gutenberg.org
   • In She, a dead man described as probably the woman's husband came to rest permanently beside her; the quoted wording is accurate. gutenberg.org
   • Under the Willow Tree is a traditional song containing the quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    not alertverbidiomaticintransitive

    To be careless or inattentive; to fail to stay vigilant or to live thoughtlessly.

    The committee slept while the problem quietly grew worse.

    Leaders who sleep through a crisis betray those who depend on them.

    Similardoze, slumber

    Note

    Here the sleeper is at fault, and inattention is pictured as dozing at one's post. Francis Atterbury's sermon of 1706 complains that "we sleep over our Happiness" and must be roused into a thankful sense of it. To sleep over something is to fail to notice what lies in front of you. The sleeper is blamed, not pitied, which sets this apart from the sense of quiet dormancy. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Francis Atterbury preached the relevant sermon in 1706. en.wiktionary.org
    • Atterbury says “we sleep over our Happiness” and describes needing to be roused into thankful awareness of it. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    a nightnouncolloquialmetonymicallycountable or uncountable

    A night, used informally as a unit for counting the days until an event.

    Grandma said it was just one sleep until she arrived.

    We're three sleeps away from the start of summer vacation.

    UsageUsed with a number to count down to an event, often with children: two more sleeps.

    Similarnight

12. 12
    hibernationnouncountable or uncountable

    The hibernation of animals; the prolonged dormant rest that some species enter during winter.

    During its winter sleep, the dormouse barely breathes.

    Ground squirrels emerge from sleep when the soil begins to warm.

    Similarhibernation, dormancy, torpor

13. 13
    verb

    In computing, of a program or process, to pause for a set time without doing any work.
14. 14
    verb

    Of a spinning top or yo-yo, to spin so steadily that it seems not to move; or to make it spin like this.
15. 15
    noun

    A daily state in plants, usually at night, in which the leaflets fold together and the flowers close and droop.