SLEEP

Sleep

In animals, sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, and inhibition of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and it is more easily reversible than being in hibernation or a coma.

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sleep

Noun

  1. The state of reduced consciousness during which a human or animal rests in a daily rhythm.
    I really need some sleep.
    We need to conduct an overnight sleep test to diagnose your sleep problem.
  2. An act or instance of sleeping.
    I’m just going to have a quick sleep.
  3. Rheum found in the corner of the eyes after waking, whether real or a figurative objectification of sleep (in the sense of reduced consciousness).
    Wipe the sleep from your eyes.
  4. A state of plants, usually at night, when their leaflets approach each other and the flowers close and droop, or are covered by the folded leaves.

Verb

  1. To rest in a state of reduced consciousness.
    You should sleep 8 hours a day.
  2. (Of a spinning top) to spin on its axis with no other perceptible motion.
    When a top is sleeping, it is spinning but not precessing.
  3. To accommodate in beds.
    This caravan can sleep up to four people.
  4. To be slumbering in (a state).
    to sleep a dreamless sleep
  5. To be careless, inattentive, or unconcerned; not to be vigilant; to live thoughtlessly.
  6. To be dead; to lie in the grave.
  7. To be, or appear to be, in repose; to be quiet; to be unemployed, unused, or unagitated; to rest; to lie dormant.
    a question sleeps for the present; the law sleeps


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: sleep
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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