sleepless, a.
(ˈsliːplɪs)
Also 5 sleples, 6 slepelesse, 6–7 sleeplesse.
[f. sleep n. + -less. Cf. (M)Du. slapeloos (Kilian slaeploos), OHG. slâflôs (G. schlaflos).]
1. Deprived of sleep; unable to sleep.
| 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. 3546 To Medea he hath þe weye take, And sche abood sleples for his sake. 1483 Cath. Angl. 344/2 Sleples, exsompnis. a 1542 Wyatt in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 80 The body still away slepelesse it weares. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxxvii. iii, Whole troupes of busy cares..Tooke up their restlesse rest In sleepie sleeplesse eies. 1700 Ken in Bk. of Praise 272 When in the night I sleepless lie. 1820 Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 4 Which Thou and I alone..Behold with sleepless eyes. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xliii, He lay all that night sleepless and yearning to go home. 1888 Allies Holy See & Wand. of Nations 83 The monks, called from their never intermitted worship, the Sleepless. |
2. Yielding no sleep; marked by the absence or want of sleep.
| 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. i. xxvi, That they may..couch their head In soft, but sleeplesse down. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Amb. 12 We had a sleepless night of it. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Udolpho xxxv, She started from a sleepless pillow, to welcome the day. 1815 Byron ‘My soul is dark’ ii, It hath been by sorrow nursed, And ach'd in sleepless silence long. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xvii. vii. (1872) VII. 74 The Old Inn, hospitable though sleepless, stands pleasantly upon the River-brink. 1876 M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. II. 38 A sleepless night shed the sober light of reason upon those clouds of sentiment. |
3. Continually active or operative.
| 1792 S. Rogers Pleas. Mem. i. 194 Oh mark the sleepless energies of thought. 1820 Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 280, [I] thus devote to sleepless agony This undeclining head. 1848 Gallenga Italy I. p. xxv, Thought remained anxious, sleepless, rebellious. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt (1868) 8 The quivering nerves of a sleepless memory. |
b. Unceasing in motion; ever-moving.
| 1795–1814 Wordsw. Excurs. ix. 212 The sleepless ocean murmurs for all ears. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. i. xiv, Winds are rude in Biscay's sleepless bay. a 1822 Shelley To E. Williams vi, The sleepless billows on the ocean's breast. |
4. Used punningly: (see quot. and sleepy 1 c).
| 1865 Slang Dict. 235 Sleepless-hats, those of a napless character, better known as wide-awakes. |
Hence ˈsleeplessly adv.
| 1847 in Webster. 1896 Daily News 4 Jan. 5/3 He sleeplessly guards his maize during the whole night. |