- sleep
- sleep vb Sleep, slumber, drowse, doze, nap, catnap, snooze mean to take rest by a suspension of consciousness.Sleep, the usual term, implies ordinarily the periodical repose of this sort in which men and animals recuperate their powers after activity, but it may imply such repose indulged in temporarily or at odd times{
the young baby sleeps most of the time
}{he sleeps fitfully
}{they slept soundly all night
}{slept away his fatigue
}{sleep off the effects of an opiate
}{doped to make him sleep away the hours of travel— Ervine
}Sleep can also refer to a condition (as dormancy, indolence, or death) felt to resemble true sleep{the restless enmity of the Angevin never slept— Freeman
}{beneath those rugged elms . . . the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep— Gray
}Slumber implies sleeping but it has acquired connotations that usually distinguish it from sleep. When applied to persons it usually suggests a sleeping quietly and easily{covered the sleeper with a blanket and the girl slumbered peacefully to Buffalo— LaCossitt
}{hush, my dear, lie still and slumberl holy angels guard thy bed!— Watts
}In extended use it is likely to connote the repose of death and inactivity and suggest prolonged heavy sleep{that I may slumber in eternal sleep— Shak.
}{this New England of ours slumbered from the dawn of creation until the beginning of the seventeenth century— Coolidge
}Drowse suggests a dull heavy condition of body and mind when one is falling asleep or is half asleep{sit drowsing by the fire
}{it is idle to pretend that a man lectures as well if half his audience are drowsing— Whitehead
}In extension it implies a sluggishness that makes something move or act slowly{the villages that once drowsed in the sun about the placid center squares— Theodore White
}Doze carries somewhat the same implications as drowse but the term often suggests a falling asleep, unintentionally or naturally, and does not emphasize a previous drowsy condition; often it suggests a falling asleep for a brief period or a drifting in and out of sleep, and it may imply a state of bewilderment when suddenly awakened{he had just dozed off when the explosion occurred
}{the sun drowsing on crooked streets, old men dozing in the parks— Green Peyton
}{I have been dozing over a stupid book— Sheridan
}{she dozed off for a moment or two, and then she got up and began . . . washing her hands— Goudge
}Nap basically implies a taking of a short light sleep, especially in the daytime; in extended use it commonly implies an opposition to watch or be on the alert and does not necessarily suggest the taking of a nap but merely a relaxation of care or activity (as in preventing, protecting, or detecting){while I nodded, nearly napping— Poe
}{the Tory party is organized now; they will not catch us napping again— Disraeli
}Catnap implies a frequent taking of brief refreshing naps, usually at odd intervals fitted between one's periods of activity{stays in top form by catnapping whenever he has a spare moment— Time
}Snooze, a somewhat casual or slangy term, may be used in place of nap and others of the preceding terms but without any emphasis on their distinctive or figurative connotations{snooze by the fire
}{the smaller, quieter resorts, where snoozing in a deck chair on the beach, salon orchestras and ornamental gardens are emphasized— Kenneth Young
}Analogous words: rest, repose, relax (see corresponding nouns at REST)
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
