ˈday-dream
A dream indulged in while awake, esp. one of happiness or gratified hope or ambition; a reverie, castle in the air.
| 1685 Dryden Lucret. (T.), And when awake, thy soul but nods at best, Day dreams and sickly thoughts revolving in thy breast. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 167 ¶3 The gay Phantoms that dance before my waking Eyes and compose my Day-Dreams. 1815 Scott Guy M. iv, We shall not pursue a lover's day-dream any farther. 1864 C. Knight Passages Work. Life I. i. 122 The realities of life had cured me of many day-dreams. |
| attrib. 1829 I. Taylor Enthus. ix. 231 The object of day⁓dream contemplation. |
So
ˈday-dream v., to indulge in day-dreams;
refl., to transport (oneself) imaginatively by means of a day-dream;
ˈday-dreamer;
ˈday-dreaming vbl. n. and ppl. a.;
ˈday-dreamy a., pertaining to day-dreams; also, having the quality of a day-dream.
| 1820 W. Irving Sketch-Bk., The Voyage, One given to day-dreaming, and fond of losing himself in reveries. 1849 Thackeray Pendennis I. xxviii. 272 This young day-dreamer built castles in the air for himself. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets xi. 376 All day-dreamers and castle-builders. 1884 Athenæum 6 Dec. 738/1 The girl..who sits day-dreaming in a vignette. 1899 Crampton's Mag. Jan. 109 Mr. Jones fell into a retrospective mood, day-dreaming himself back into the past. 1906 Daily Chron. 3 Aug. 8/5 Day-dreaming children can pass into this fairy world at will. 1921 T. S. Eliot in Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Mar. 202/1 The day-dreamy feeling of Morris is essentially a slight thing. 1949 ‘M. Innes’ Journeying Boy (1961) 170 There is no doubt, however, that Humphrey can day-dream himself into some rather alarming world of romantic adventure, with nervous consequences that are by no means desirable. |