- [uncountable] the natural state of rest in which your eyes are closed, your body is not active, and your mind is not conscious
- I need to get some sleep.
- I didn't get much sleep last night.
- Can you give me something to help me get to sleep (= start sleeping)?
- Go to sleep—it's late.
- His talk nearly sent me to sleep (= it was boring).
- Try to go back to sleep.
- in your sleep He cried out in his sleep.
- Anxiety can be caused by lack of sleep.
- I only got about five hours' sleep.
- She was clearly suffering from sleep deprivation.
- How long have you ever gone without sleep?
Extra Examples- He drifted in and out of sleep all night.
- He often walks and talks in his sleep.
- I feigned sleep when the ticket inspector came round.
- I used Saturday to catch up on my sleep.
- I'm off to bed for some much-needed sleep.
- Sleep came to her in snatches.
- Sleep finally overtook me.
- Tom was in the front room sleeping the sleep of the dead.
- a decreased heart rate during sleep
- the use of drugs to induce sleep
- the nation's most commonly prescribed sleep aid
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- deep
- light
- much-needed
- …
- drift into
- drift off to
- drop off to
- …
- come
- overcome somebody
- overtake somebody
- …
- cycle
- pattern
- schedule
- …
- during sleep
- in your sleep
- a lack of sleep
- a wink of sleep
- [singular] a period of sleep
- Did you have a good sleep?
- Ros fell into a deep sleep.
- I'll feel better after a good night's sleep (= a night when I sleep well).
Extra Examples- I woke up early after a disturbed sleep.
- I was in a deep sleep when the phone rang.
- I immediately fell into a dead sleep.
- He woke from a fitful sleep with a headache.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- long
- little
- short
- …
- need
- have
- be in
- …
- a good, poor, etc. night’s sleep
- [uncountable] (informal) the substance that sometimes forms in the corners of your eyes after you have been sleeping
- Ned rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
Word OriginOld English slēp, slǣp (noun), slēpan, slǣpan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch slapen and German schlafen.
Idioms
See sleep in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee sleep in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishbe able to do something in your sleep
- (informal) to be able to do something very easily because you have done it many times before
- I haven’t done many portraits, but I could paint landscapes in my sleep.
go to sleep
- (informal) if part of your body goes to sleep, you lose the sense of feeling in it, usually because it has been in the same position for too long
- My foot’s gone to sleep.
not get/have a wink of sleep | not sleep a wink
- to not be able to sleep
- I didn't get a wink of sleep last night.
- I hardly slept a wink.
not lose sleep/lose no sleep over something
- to not worry much about something
- It's not worth losing sleep over.
- Don't lose sleep over it—we'll sort everything out in the morning.
put somebody to sleep
- (informal) to make somebody unconscious before an operation by using drugs (called an anaesthetic)
put something to sleep
- to kill a sick or injured animal by giving it drugs so that it dies without pain. People say ‘put to sleep’ to avoid saying ‘kill’.
- We had to have our dog put to sleep.
Check pronunciation:
sleep