Idioms About Sleep or Dreaming
(Visitor Contributions)

As sleep is such a vital part in our lives, it has become the object of many idioms, in all languages. These are some of the many, along with an explanation of what they mean. Languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Other.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Expression: Hitting the sack / I'm going to hit the sack.
Explanation: lying down to try to get to sleep

Expression: head hitting the pillow (falling asleep as soon as you hit the pillow)
Explanation: laying your head down on the pillow (falling asleep quickly)

Expression: catch 40 winks
Explanation: take a short nap

Expression: a cat nap
Explanation: a short nap which can be anywhere, not necessarily in bed

Expression: to catch some zzz's
Explanation: to get some sleep

Expression: zonked out
Explanation: exhausted and ready to fall asleep quickly

Expression: catch up on some sleep
Explanation: to get some extra sleeping time to make up for missed sleep

Expression: beddie-by
Explanation: nickname for a child's bed or bedtime

Expression: grab a little shut-eye
Explanation: to take a nap

Expression: when the Sandman comes
Explanation: when sleep finally comes, and your eyes feel stuck shut

Expression: I couldn't sleep a wink
Explanation: I felt like I didn't sleep at all the whole night.

Expression: getting up on the wrong side of the bed
Explanation: waking up and staying in a grumpy mood or having everything seem to go wrong is often said to be a result of "getting up on the wrong side of the bed" earlier that morning.

Expression: He's sawing logs
Explanation: snoring

Expression: wide awake
Explanation: completely awake and alert

Expression: to turn in
Explanation: to go to bed

Expression: "Good night, sleep tight;
Don't let the bed bugs bite;
If they do, hit them with a shoe,
Until they turn all black and blue"
Explanation: The first half is used to playfully say "good night," but this is the whole rhyme which is the source for the expression.
"sleep tight" itself would just imply sleeping securely

Expression: Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise (Ben Franklin)
Explanation: This maxim of Benjamin Franklin, one of the founders of the United States of America and author of an almanac, is commonly quoted to encourage good sleep habits for hard-working people.

Expression: nodding off
Explanation: You are said to be nodding off if, while you are sitting up, your head starts to dip involuntarily; your eyelids feel very heavy; and being overtired, you cannot resist sleep, so your head starts to nod as you fall asleep.

Expression: a real nightmare
Explanation: a very bad dream

Expression: "I'm going to go home and crash."
Explanation: I'm going straight home to go to sleep right away and do not plan to be disturbed because I am exhausted (whether from partying too hard, from working very hard, or from discouragement or "burnout.")

Expression: Rise and shine!
Explanation: This is a call to wake up and to get out of bed cheerfully, the shine referring to being like the morning sun.

Expression: sleepy seeds or sleepy sands
Explanation: These refer to the small sticky particles in your eyes that seem to help the eyelids stay closed and you have to wipe them out of your eyes after you wake up.

Expression: power nap
Explanation: a short nap during the day, usually in the afternoon, to refresh and to energize your mind for clearer thinking.

Expression: "You snooze, you lose."
Explanation: This expression means that if you don't pay attention or stay alert, you will miss something important and/or won't succeed (in school, life, opportunities, etc.

Expression: Let sleeping dogs lie.
Explanation: Don't disturb someone (not necessarily referring to someone while sleeping at all, but possibly.). Usually refers to the advice not to revive or to revisit old, controversial topics of discussion or to remind someone of painful memories.

Expression: out like a light
Explanation: to fall asleep very quickly, like turning off the switch for an electric light.

Expression: to doze off
Explanation: to ease into sleep gradually, sometimes "nodding off" unintentiopnally"

Expression: dreamboat
Explanation: a really good-looking, physically attractive, person.

Expression: needing or getting my beauty sleep
Explanation: needing to get enough sleep so you'll feel refreshed, and so that you won't have puffy eyes or bags under your eyes, sagging or droopy eyelids, poor complexion, etc., but will look refreshed and glowing

Expression: dreamy eyes
Explanation: romantic eyes

Expression: sweet dreams
Explanation: Have a good night's sleep; also this expresses a wish that the person will have pleasant dreams rather than nightmares.

Expression: dreamy
Explanation: something that is desirable and idealized. It could be another person, or something, like a dreamy wedding gown, exquisitely beautiful.

Expression: my dream house (or dream anything)
Explanation: my ideal house (or whatever)

Expression: pipe dreams
Explanation: unrealistic hopes or plans [for the future]

Expression: to dream something up
Explanation: to imagine something or to "concoct" it. Oftentimes said critically, about "inventing" something or to make excuses, but not necessarily negative.

Expression: sleepyhead
Explanation: a tired person, usually refers to a child or child-like person

Expression: sleeping volcano
Explanation: one that is dormant, that hasn't erupted for a long time

Expression: to sleep in
Explanation: to sleep later than usual for that person, to wake or to get up later the next morning than is customary (often done on weekends, days off, or holidays)

Expression: sleepover
Explanation: a party where the guests spend the night afterwards at the home of the host/hostess

Expression: oversleep
Explanation: to sleep later than intended. Usually meaning that you forgot to set an alarm, or turned it off and went back to sleep without getting up.

Expression: falling asleep
Explanation: getting to sleep; going from the state of being awake to that of being asleep.

Expression: sleeping like a baby
Explanation: to sleep peacefully

Expression: to sleep soundly
Explanation: to sleep without interruption

Expression: sleeping like a log
Explanation: the same as sleeping soundly, in a "heavy" or "deep" sleep

Expression: fighting to stay awake
Explanation: having difficulty in resisting sleep and keeping awake

Expression: to sleep it off
Explanation: to sleep long enough so the effects of something wear off (like too much to drink, or tensions)

Expression: to sleep tight
Explanation: to sleep well

Expression: light sleeper
Explanation: someone who is awakened easily during sleep (even slight amounts of noise, light, etc., disturb his or her sleep

Expression: to sleep lightly / a light sleeper
Explanation: to be easily disturbed or awakened during sleep

Expression: a deep sleep
Explanation: a sleep that is not easily interupted and could continue despite a stimulating surrounding. The sleeper often wakes up feeling relaxed and well rested after a deep sleep.

Expression: to sleep in
Explanation: to continue to sleep later than usual or later than expected in the morning.

Expression: oversleep
Explanation: to wake up later than expected in the morning

Expression: sleepover
Explanation: to spend the night at a friend's house

Expression: to put an animal to sleep
Explanation: to kill an animal in order to put it out of its misery (usually done by a vet)

Expression: putting the computer to sleep
Explanation: turning the computer into a resourceful mode in which it can easily be ready for use, yet saves power. The screen will go dark.

Expression: my leg has gone to sleep
Explanation: said when a tingling feeling occurs in the leg, usually due to poor circulation. When it also includes sharp pain, it is called a Charlie Horse.

Expression: I'll sleep on it/or to go home and sleep on it
Explanation: to think about something, or to wait until tomorrow to make a decision, to see if any solutions can be thought up between now and then.

Expression: to sleep through something/to sleep through a storm
Explanation: to continue to sleep while a lot is going on around you

Expression: sleep soundly
Explanation: to continue to sleep without being easily disturbed or awakened

Expression: siesta
Explanation: nap

Expression: slumber
Explanation: sleep, usually considered a deeper sleep

Expression: nap
Explanation: a short sleep

Expression: dozing
Explanation: napping, but usually easily awakened or partially alert, often unintentional

LANGUAGE: FRENCH

(VERY ROUGH DRAFT - NO ACCENTS EVEN)
Faire la grasse matinee
sommeil leger
il dormait d'un sommeil agite
je n'ai pas dormi de la nuit
je n'ai pas dormi de 3 jours
avoir envie de dormir
essayez de dormir un peu
ca m'empeche de dormir
ce n'est pas ca qui va m'empecher de dormir
parler en dormant
chanter en dormant
eau dormant
l'argent dormant
des machines dormant
tout dormait dans la maison
tout dormait dans la ville
investis ton captal plutot que de le laisse dormant
ce n'est pas le moment de dormir
dormir sur son travail
je dors debout
une histoire a dormir
dormir debout
dormir son dernier sommeil
dormir comme un loir
dormir comme une marmotte
dormir comme une souche
ne dormir q'un oeil
il dort a poings fermes
cette nuit je vais dormir a poings fermes
dormir du sommeil du juste
dormir sur ses deux oreilles
il n'en dort pas
qui dort dine


l'analyse grammaticale etait son cauchemar
vision de cauchemar
avoir sommeil
tomber de sommeil
sommeil agreable l'envahissait
avoir le sommeil leger
dormir d'un sommeil agite
un sommeil de plomb
premier sommeil
nuit sans sommeil
le sommeil de la nature
affaires en sommeil
laisser une affaire en sommeil
le sommeil de la petite ville pendant l'hiver
le sommeil eternel
le dernier sommeil
le sommeil des morts
faire un petit somme
le reve eveille
j'ai fait un reve affreux
Faites de beaux reves
sortir d'un reve
c'etait un beau reve
une voiture de reve / une maison de reve
son reve de jeunesse
la femme de ses reves
disparaitre comme un reve / s'evanouir comme un reve
voir/entendre quelquechose en reve
c'est le reve
Une maison comme ca, ce n'est pas le reve
il eut un reveil brutal
il a passe une nuit entrecoupee de reveils en sursaut
apres tous ces chateaux en Espagne, le reveil fut penible


La Vocabulaire

dormir
la sieste

un cauchemar
un reve
un petit somme
le sommeil cauchemardeux
cauchemardesque