sleepy
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English
Etymology
From Middle English slepy, from Old English *slǣpiġ (attested in unslǣpiġ (“not sleepy, sleepless”)), from Proto-West Germanic *slāpag (“sleepy”), equivalent to sleep + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian släipich (“sleepy”), West Frisian sliepich (“sleepy”), Middle Dutch slapig, slêpig, slapich (“sleepy”), Middle Low German slâpich, Middle High German slāfec (> archaic German schlafig (“sleepy”)).
Pronunciation
Adjective
sleepy (comparative sleepier, superlative sleepiest)
- Tired; feeling the need for sleep.
- Synonyms: tired; see also Thesaurus:sleepy
- 1700, [John] Dryden, “Cymon and Iphigenia, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:
- She wak'd her sleepy crew.
- Suggesting tiredness.
- 1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus:
- At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. Disgusted with himself at such cowardice, he spat a needle from his mouth, stepped back from the tree and listened. There were no sounds of any movement upstairs: no shouts, no sleepy grumbles, only a gentle tinkle from the decorations as the tree had recovered from the collision.
- Tending to induce sleep.
- Synonym: soporific
- a sleepy drink or potion
- 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Edward the Second, ”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. , London: William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, , →OCLC, book IX ( ), paragraph 49, page 561, column 1:
- [T]he yong L. Roger Mortimer, […] hauing corrupted his Keepers, or (as ſome others vvrite) hauing potioned them vvith a ſleepy drinke, eſcaped out of the Tovver of London, getting ouer clearely vvithout any empeachment into France.
- (figurative) Dull; lazy.
- 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
- 'Tis not sleepy business;
But must be looked to speedily and strongly.
- (figurative) Quiet; without bustle or activity.
- a sleepy English village
- 2021 August 30, “Armed robbers take hostages in deadly bank raids in Brazil city”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:
- Experts believe a pandemic welfare programme for poorer Brazilians has encouraged robbers to plan bold raids in sleepy regional cities where bank branches are storing more cash.
- 2022 September 23, Pjotr Sauer, Dan Sabbagh, “Border queues build as people flee Russia to escape Putin’s call-up”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:
- Usually sleepy border crossings into Kazakhstan and Mongolia have also been overwhelmed by the sudden influx of Russians looking for a way out.
- 2023 March 8, Paul Salveson, “Fond farewells to two final trains...”, in Rail, number 978, page 54:
- Despite Horwich's international fame as a centre of railway engineering, Horwich station itself was usually quite a sleepy place.
Alternative forms
- sleeby (Internet slang)
Derived terms
Translations
feeling the need for sleep
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suggesting tiredness
quiet; without bustle or activity
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Noun
sleepy (countable and uncountable, plural sleepies)
- (informal, uncountable or in the plural) The gum that builds up in the eye; sleep, gound.
- Synonym: (which see for more) sleep
- 1964, Ken Kesey, Sometimes a Great Notion:
- "Did he always leave the sleepy in his eyes?" "Never removed it; let it build up in the comers of his eyes over the weeks until it was heavy enough to fall […]
- 1991, Martin Amis, London Fields:
- But the nightdress was heavy, the sleepy in her eyes was heavy, her hair (she made a mustache of one of its locks) was heavy and smelled of cigarettes […]
- (Australia) Shingleback.