sleepy, a.
(ˈsliːpɪ)
Forms: 3–4 slepi, 4–6 slepy, 5–6 slepie, 6 sleapie, 6–7 sleepie, 6– sleepy.
[f. sleep n. + -y. Cf. OE. unslǽpiᵹ sleepless, and NFris. slîpig, MDu., MLG. slapich (Du. dial. slapig, slepig), OHG. slâfag, -eg (MHG. slâfec, -ic, obs. G. schlafig, schläfig).]
1. a. Inclined to sleep; having a difficulty in keeping awake; drowsy, somnolent.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 871 He woren drunken and slepi. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 385 Þe kyng werþe wonderliche slepy. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 94, I was noght slow ne slepi there. c 1440 Gesta Rom. lxvi. 298 (Addit. MS.), The maiden wexe slepie, and sore vexed, and fille on slepe. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vi. i. 183 For this viij yere I was not so slepy as I am now. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 250 Oh, I am so slepie, that I must make an end. 1587 Turberv. Trag. Tales (1837) 152 She shifted thence with shame Her sleepie husbandes sworde. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Amb. 321 There are some who take of it only once in two or three daies, which makes them sleepy. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 277 Hollow Murmurs of their Ev'ning Bells, Dismiss the sleepy Swains, and toll 'em to their Cells. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia ii. v, She soon grew sleepy, and retired to her own room. 1859 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 397 Fatigue, which makes an healthy human being sleepy. 1874 J. S. Blackie Self-Culture 49 Let a man sleep when he is sleepy. |
b. Given to sleep; lethargic, heavy.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 75 There slepeth ay this god vnmerie, With his slepy thousande sones. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. xvi. (Bodl. MS.), He is slow, slepie and lusteles and forgendrith alle his lordis nedes. 1504 Lady Margaret tr. De Imitatione iv. vi. 269 So wakynge to fables, so slepy to holy vygyls. 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Fam. Love Ep. Ded. *iij, Those which are able..will not, because they are sleepy. 1654 tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 184 Those quiet and sleepy Princes, who have no other thoughts, but for their own defence. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 399 The sleepy Leacher shuts his little Eyes. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) II. 298 By others, from its sleepy countenance, [it] is supposed to be designed for the emperor Commodus. 1869 Martineau Ess. II. 130 Men are too sleepy to look after it. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 319 Arithmetic stirs up him who is by nature sleepy and dull. |
c. transf. or
fig., in general or specific uses.
For the latter see the quotations in (
b).
| (a) 1597 Beard Theatre God's Judgem. (1612) 206 Then his sleepie conscience awaked, and he fell into most horrible despaire. 1685 Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Matt. xxvii. 4 O the stupidity of seared sleepy consciences! 1700 Dryden Cymon & Iphigenia 29 Love..oft to virtuous Acts inflames the Mind, Awakes the sleepy Vigour of the Soul. 1807 Wordsw. White Doe iii. 107 Not loth the sleepy lance to wield, And greet the old paternal shield. 1885 Times (weekly ed.) 16 Oct. 4/2 This district was not..sleepy on the question of political opinion and political action. |
| (b) 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 444 The iuyce with Capons grease anointed on, helpeth raw heeles and sleepy galles. 1790 Grose Prov. Gloss. s.v., An apple or pear beginning to rot is said to be sleepy. 1796 Ibid. (ed. 3), Sleepy, much worn: the cloth of your coat must be extremely sleepy, for it has not had a nap this long time. 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1975 Where the conduit pipes are of great length..the water..is found to lose much of its strength, and become what is technically called sleepy. 1834 Marryat P. Simple (1863) 372, I expect her to drop every minute, like an over-ripe sleepy pear. 1885 J. Long Brit. Dairy-Farm. 82 Almost every one connected with the dairy knows what ‘sleepy’ cream is... The whole of the cream assumes the appearance of froth. |
d. sleepy lizard, one of several Australian lizards of the family Scincidæ,
esp. the shingleback,
Trachylosaurus rugosus, found in the southern part of the country.
| 1883 [see blue tongue, blue-tongue 2]. 1887 F. M{supc}Coy Zool. Victoria xiv. 120 Not uncommon about Melbourne, where it is generally called the ‘Bluetongued Lizard’, or ‘Sleepy Lizard’. |
2. a. Characterized by, appropriate or belonging to, suggestive of, sleep or repose.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 272 Þene bimased gost þet in one slepie ȝ emeleaste uorȝemeð him suluen. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 93 He routeth with a slepi noise. Ibid. III. 48 Of Daniel the slepi dremes. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 175 When the sleepie time of the night coms in, they make lesse and lesse noise. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 211 Surely It is a sleepy Language; and thou speak'st Out of thy sleepe. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 247 We..did in this sort passe the sleepy houres in the morning. 1650 Venner Censure 39 If in use of the Water you shall finde a..sleepy disposition. 1775 Goldsm. tr. Scarron's Com. Rom. I. 287 Rancour began to sleep with more tranquility.., his sleepy faculty not being now disturbed. 1786 F. Burney Diary 4 Nov., I did not approach the Queen that night with much of a sleepy composure. 1820 Scott Monast. Introd. Ep., In the true sleepy tone of a Scottish matron when ten o'clock is going to strike. 1849 James Woodman vii, With a sleepy but affectionate look. 1891 Baring-Gould In Troubadour Land xvi. 226 It does a little sleepy trade in salt. |
b. Of morbid states. See also
sleepy sickness.
| 1623 Cockeram ii, A Sleepie disease, lethargie. 1656 W. Dugard tr. Comenius' Gate Latin Unl. 85 Continual [sleep],..or the sleepie-evil. 1704 Dict. Rust. (1726), Sleepy-evil, a Distemper in Swine, that takes them in Summer⁓time. 1707 (title), An Exact Relation of the Strange and Uncommon Sleepy Distemper of Dirk Bakker. 1748 Hartley Observ. Man i. i. §1. 46 During Sleep and sleepy Distempers the Brain is particularly compressed. 1831 W. Youatt Horse 103 Some say that there is a yellowness of the eye..in the early stage of sleepy or stomach-staggers. 1913 Dorland Med. Dict. (ed. 7) 887/1 Sleepy staggers, stomach staggers, a disease of horses, of unknown causation but usually associated with the eating of moldy hay and grain. 1922 Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Aug. 511/2 The tomato suffers from the so-called ‘Sleepy Disease’ manifested in a wilting of the plant. |
c. Of places. (Common in recent use.)
| 1851 Meredith Love in the Valley xix, Down the sleepy roadway Sometimes pipes a chaffinch. 1868 M. E. Braddon Dead Sea Fr. i, The quiet streets and lonely squares of that sleepy Belgian city. |
3. Inducing sleep; soporific. Now
rare.
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 529 His slepy yerde in hond he bar. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxxviii. (Bodl. MS.), Popy hatte Papauere and is a slepye herbe. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 53 Morpheus the God of dreames, with his slepie rodde. 1598 Stow Surv. vii. (1603) 52 Giuing to his keepers a sleepie drinke. 1651 Wittie tr. Primrose's Pop. Err. 391 Those that are poysonous in their whole substance, as sleepy nightshade. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 115 Sleepy Poppies harmful Harvests yield. 1760 Impostors Detected iv. vi. II. 209 At length we were forced to have recourse to some sleepy drugs. 1819 Shelley Cenci v. iii. 123 Come, I will sing you some low, sleepy tune. 1898 Crockett Red Axe 41 The old clothes..gave off such a faint, musty, sleepy smell I could scarcely keep awake. |
4. Comb., as
sleepy-eyed,
sleepy-headed (also
sleepy-headedness,
sleepy-headiness),
sleepy-looking;
sleepy-bye(s),
Sc. -baw n., a nursery name for sleep; also as
v. intr., to go to sleep;
sleepy-head, a sleepy or lethargic person; a drowsy-head;
Sleepy Hollow,
sleepy hollow, (
a) a name given to a place with a soporific atmosphere or characterized by torpidity (in
quot. 1820, to which some
quots. allude, the name of a valley near Tarrytown (Irving's home) in Westchester county,
N.Y. State); (
b) a type of comfortable deep-upholstered armchair; also called
sleepy-hollow chair;
sleepy-time U.S., bedtime.
| 1907 N. Munro Daft Days x. 85 Just you lie down there pet, and *sleepy-baw. |
| 1925 Beerbohm Observations 37 Before you go to *sleepy-bye I'll read it to you. 1968 A. Diment Bang Bang Birds x. 177 ‘Sleepy byes time, Lex,’ and I just felt the prick in my arm before I was blotted out again. |
| 1808 Sporting Mag. XXX. 77 The ‘*sleepy-eyed’ beauties of Lely. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. xxxv, No sleepy-eyed animal. |
| 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 769 These *sleepie-heades haue nothing to alleadge for this their..imagination of the sleepe of the soul. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge xxi, ‘Here, sleepy-head,’ said Joe, giving him the lantern. ‘Carry this.’ |
| 1600 Hosp. Incurable Fooles 23 Negligent, sluggish, and altogither *sleepie-headed. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth v, Not to protect thee against this sleepy-headed Henry. 1841 Capt. Hall Patchwork II. xiii. 252 The sleepy-headed manner of doing business in..Sicily. |
| 1884 G. Moore Mummer's Wife (1887) 24 This charge of *sleepyheadedness seemed to discountenance her. |
| 1841 Capt. Hall Patchwork II. xi. 205 The *sleepyheadiness of the Maltese rowers. |
| 1820 W. Irving Sk. Bk. vi. 51 (heading) The legend of *Sleepy Hollow. Ibid. 53 This sequestered glen has long been known by the name of Sleepy Hollow, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow boys. 1834 M. Edgeworth Helen I. xv. 321 Beauclerc, who had not yet tried the chair, sank into its luxurious depth, and leaning back, asked if it might not be appropriately called the ‘Sleepy-hollow’. 1836 Madrid in 1835: Sk. by Resident Officer I. v. 94 No friendly arm-chair; none of that somniferous form, not unaptly termed ‘sleepy hollow’. 1868 L. M. Alcott Little Women v. 79 There were..Sleepy-Hollow chairs, and queer tables. 1897 F. T. Bullen Cruise ‘Cachalot’ xxiv. (1901) 311 The whole place seemed a maritime sleepy hollow, the dwellers in which had lost all interest in life. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 371 Rip van Winkle we played... Then I did Rip van Winkle coming back. She leaned on the sideboard watching. Moorish eyes. Twenty years asleep in Sleepy Hollow. 1924 Galsworthy White Monkey i. vii. 53 ‘First time I remember anything of the sort on that Board.’ ‘Sleepy hollow,’ said Soames. 1955 ‘A. Gilbert’ Is she Dead Too? v. 91 There's plenty of work to be had, you don't have to stop in Sleepy Hollow. 1957 M. Swan Brit. Guiana 98 It is a charming little sleepy hollow of a town with long strait streets. 1966 M. M. Pegler Dict. Interior Design (1967) 412 Sleepy hollow chair, a mid-19th-century American chair which is upholstered and has a curved back and low, comfortable arms. The seat is usually scooped out. 1976 N. Freeling Lake Isle viii. 43 This bastard in Soulay is merely wanting to make a fuss. Sleepy hollow. If he were any good he wouldn't be there. 1981 London Rev. Bks. 2–15 July 6/4 The restless forces were never as strong in Britain as the laws of inertia and the politics of Sleepy Hollow. |
| 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy xxiv, A very *sleepy-looking gossoon entered. |
| 1862 K. Stone Jrnl. 19 Aug. in Brokenburn (1955) 137 He was satisfied I would not sleep a wink, but at *sleepy time..we all went to bed and slept soundly. 1918 S. C. Bryant Stories to tell Little Ones p. ix, I have been in the habit of singing them rhymes..a while before sleepy-time. 1950 O. Nash Family Reunion 81 At sleepy-time he beats a path Straight to the bedroom or the bath. |