sleep (sleeps plural & 3rd person present) (sleeping present participle) (slept past tense & past participle )
1 n-uncount Sleep is the natural state of rest in which your eyes are closed, your body is inactive, and your mind does not think.
They were exhausted from lack of sleep..., Try and get some sleep..., Be quiet and go to sleep..., Often he would have bad dreams and cry out in his sleep.
2 verb When you sleep, you rest with your eyes closed and your mind and body inactive.
During the car journey, the baby slept... V
...a pool surrounded by sleeping sunbathers. V-ing
3 n-count A sleep is a period of sleeping.
usu sing
I think he may be ready for a sleep soon.
4 verb If a building or room sleeps a particular number of people, it has beds for that number of people.
no cont, no passive
The villa sleeps 10 and costs £530 per person for two weeks. V amount
6 If you cannot get to sleep, you are unable to sleep.
get to sleep phrase V inflects
I can't get to sleep with all that singing.
7 If you say that you didn't lose any sleepover something, you mean that you did not worry about it at all.
lose sleep phrase V inflects, usu PHR over n
I didn't lose too much sleep over that investigation.
8 If you are trying to make a decision and you say that you will sleep on it, you mean that you will delay making a decision on it until the following day, so you have time to think about it.
sleep on it phrase V inflects
9 If a sick or injured animal is put to sleep, it is killed by a vet in a way that does not cause it pain.
put sth to sleep phrase V inflects
(=put down)
I'm going take the dog down to the vet's and have her put to sleep.
10
→
to sleep rough
→
rough sleep around phrasal verb If you say that someone sleeps around, you disapprove of them because they have sex with a lot of different people.
INFORMAL, disapproval I don't sleep around. V P
...a drunken husband who slept around with other women. V P with n sleep off phrasal verb If you sleep off the effects of too much travelling, drink, or food, you recover from it by sleeping.
It's a good idea to spend the first night of your holiday sleeping off the jet lag... V P n (not pron)
They had been up all night and were sleeping it off. V n P sleep over phrasal verb If someone, especially a child, sleeps over in a place such as a friend's home, they stay there for one night.
She said his friends could sleep over in the big room downstairs. V P sleep together phrasal verb If two people are sleeping together, they are having a sexual relationship, but are not usually married to each other.
I'm pretty sure they slept together before they were married. V P sleep with phrasal verb If you sleep with someone, you have sex with them.
He was old enough to sleep with a girl and make her pregnant. V P n
