YourDictionary

sleeping

Variant of sleep

noun

    1. a natural, regularly recurring condition of rest for the body and mind, during which the eyes are usually closed and there is little or no conscious thought or voluntary movement, but there is intermittent dreaming
    2. a spell of sleeping
  1. any state of inactivity thought of as like sleep, as death, unconsciousness, hibernation, etc.
  2. Bot. nyctitropism

intransitive verb slept, sleeping

  1. to be in the state of sleep; slumber
  2. to be in a state of inactivity like sleep, as that of death, quiescence, hibernation, inattention, etc.
  3. Informal to have sexual intercourse (with)
  4. Informal to postpone a decision (on) to allow time for deliberation: let me sleep on it
  5. Bot. to assume a nyctitropic position at night, as petals or leaves

transitive verb

  1. to slumber in (a specified kind of sleep): to sleep the sleep of the just
  2. to provide sleeping accommodations for: a boat that sleeps four

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Learn more about sleeping

Related Articles

link/cite print suggestion box