sleep

Universal Words verb, noun verb (slept, slept ) 1 [V] [often +adv./prep.] to rest with your eyes closed and your mind and body not active: to sleep well / deeply / soundly / badly * I couldn't sleep because of the noise. * I had to sleep on the sofa. * He slept solidly for ten hours. * I slept at my sister's house last night (= stayed the night there). * We both slept right through (= were not woken up by) the storm. * She only sleeps for four hours a night. * We sometimes sleep late at the weekends (= until late in the morning). * I put the sleeping baby down gently. * What are our sleeping arrangements here (= where shall we sleep)? HELPNOTE It is more common to say that somebody is asleep than to say that somebody is sleeping. Sleep can only be used in the passive with a preposition such as in or on: It was clear her bed hadn't been slept in. 2 [VN] [nopassive] to have enough beds for a particular number of people: The apartment sleeps six. * The hotel sleeps 120 guests. IDIOMS let sleeping dogs lie (saying) to avoid mentioning a subject or sth that happened in the past, in order to avoid any problems or arguments sleep like a log / baby (informal) to sleep very well sleep tight (informal, spoken) used especially to children before they go to bed to say that you hope they sleep well: Good night, sleep tight! moreatROUGHadv., WINKn. PHRASALVERBS sleep around (informal, disapproving) to have sex with a lot of different people sleep in to sleep until after the time you usually get up in the morning sleep sth<->off to get better after sth, especially drinking too much alcohol, by sleeping: Let's leave him to sleep it off. sleep on sth (informal) to delay making a decision about sth until the next day, so that you have time to think about it: Could I sleep on it and let you know tomorrow? sleep over to stay the night at sb else's home: It's very late now-why don't you sleep over? * Can I sleep over at my friend's house? relatednounSLEEPOVER sleep together