dog-sleep
[In reference to the light sleeping of dogs, and the difficulty of telling whether, when their eyes are shut, they are asleep or not.]
† 1. Feigned or pretended sleep. Obs.
| a 1613 Overbury A Wife (1638) 298 A jealous man sleepes dog-sleepes. a 1625 Fletcher Women Pleased iii. iv. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 184 ¶6 He is represented to have slept what the common People call a Dog's Sleep; or if his Sleep was real, his Wife was awake, and about her Business. |
2. A light or fitful sleep, easily interrupted.
| 1708 Motteux Rabelais iv. lxiii. (1737) 258 How one might avoid Dog-sleep. 1822 De Quincey Confess. Wks. V. 163 My sleep was never more than what is called dog-sleep; so that I could hear myself moaning; and very often I was awakened suddenly by my own voice. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Dog-sleep, the uncomfortable fitful naps taken when all hands are kept up by stress. |