Dream Definition

drēm
dreamed, dreaming, dreams, dreamt
noun
dreams
A sequence of sensations, images, thoughts, etc. passing through a sleeping person's mind.
Webster's New World
A fanciful vision of the conscious mind; daydream; fantasy; reverie.
Webster's New World
The state, as of abstraction or reverie, in which such a daydream occurs.
Webster's New World
A condition or achievement that is longed for; an aspiration.
A dream of owning their own business.
American Heritage
A fond hope or aspiration.
Webster's New World
verb
dreamed, dreaming, dreams, dreamt
To have a dream or dreams.
Webster's New World
To have a dream of.
Webster's New World
To have daydreams.
Webster's New World
To think (of) as at all possible, desirable, etc.
I wouldn't dream of going.
Webster's New World
To spend in dreaming.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
adjective
That realizes one's fondest hopes; ideal.
Her dream house.
Webster's New World
idiom
dream up
  • to conceive of or devise, as by giving free rein to the imagination
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Dream

Noun

Singular:
dream
Plural:
dreams

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Dream

Origin of Dream

  • From Middle English dreem, possibly from Old English drēam (“joy, pleasure, gladness, delight, mirth, rejoicing, rapture, ecstasy, frenzy, music, musical instrument, harmony, melody, song, singing, jubilation, sound of music”), from Proto-Germanic *draumaz, *draugmaz (“festivity, dream, ghost, hallucination, delusion, deception”), from Proto-Germanic *draugaz (“delusion, mirage, illusion”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrAugʰ-, *dʰreugʰ- (“to deceive, injure, damage”); meaning influenced in Middle English by Old Norse draumr (“dream”), from same Proto-Germanic root. Cognate with Scots dreme (“dream”), North Frisian drom (“dream”), West Frisian dream (“dream”), Low German Droom, Dutch droom (“dream”), German Traum (“dream”), Danish drøm, Swedish dröm (“dream”), Icelandic draumur (“dream”). Related also to Old English drēag (“spectre, apparition”), Dutch bedrog (“deception, deceit”), German Trug (“deception, illusion”).

    From Wiktionary

  • From Middle English dremen, possibly (see above) from Old English drīeman (“to make a joyous sound with voice or with instrument; rejoice; sing a song; play on an instrument”), from Proto-Germanic *draumijaną, *draugmijaną (“to be festive, dream, hallucinate”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrAugʰ-, *dʰreugʰ- (“to deceive, injure, damage”). Cognate with Scots dreme (“to dream”), West Frisian dreame (“to dream”), Dutch dromen (“to dream”), German träumen (“to dream”), Swedish drömma (“to dream, muse”), Icelandic dreyma (“to dream”).

    From Wiktionary

  • The derivation from Old English drēam is controversial, since the word itself is only attested in writing in its meaning of “joy, mirth, musical sound”. Possibly there was a separate word drēam meaning “images seen while sleeping”, which was avoided in literature due to potential confusion with “joy” sense, which would account for the common definition in the other Germanic languages, or the derivation may indeed simply be a strange progression from “mirth, joy, musical sound”.

    From Wiktionary

  • Attested words for “sleeping vision” in Old English were mǣting (Middle English mæte, mēte), from unclear source, and swefn (Modern English sweven), from Proto-Germanic *swefną, from Proto-Indo-European *swepno-, *swep-; compare Ancient Greek ὕπνος (hypnos, “sleep”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English drem from Old English drēam joy, music Old Saxon drōm mirth, dream

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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