slepen

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsleː.pə(n)/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sle‧pen
• Rhymes: -eːpən

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch slêpen, from Old Dutch *slēpen, from Proto-West Germanic *slaipijan.

Verb

slepen

1. to drag, tow
2. to slide

Inflection

Derived terms

• sleep
• sleepkabel
• sleeptouw

Descendants

• Afrikaans: sleep
• Negerhollands: slep
• → Sranan Tongo: srepi
  • → Saramaccan: séépi

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

slepen

1. inflection of slijpen:
   1. plural past indicative
   2. (dated or formal) plural past subjunctive

Anagrams

• spelen

Latvian

Adverb

slepen

1. secretly, stealthily, without others knowing or noticing; adverbial form of slepens

   tas gāja saimniekam slepen iepakaļ ― that one went stealthily behind the farmer

   jāieliek krūzē nauda, un jāierok slepen zemē; un tā, lai neviens nezina, kurā kalnā ― the money must be put in a mug, and then buried secretly in the earth, in such a way that nobody knows in which hill (it is buried)

Synonyms

• slepeni
• slepus
• slēpu
• zagšus

Middle English

Alternative forms

• slæpen, sleepen, slepe

Etymology

From Old English slǣpan, from Proto-West Germanic *slāpan, from Proto-Germanic *slēpaną.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsleːpən/, /ˈslɛːpən/

Verb

slepen (third-person singular simple present slepeth, present participle slepende, slepynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle sleped)

1. To sleep; to be sleeping:
   • c. 1275, Judas (Roud 2964, Child Ballad 23, Trinity College MS. B.14.39)‎, folio 34, recto, lines 15-16; republished at Cambridge: Wren Digital Library (Trinity College), 2019 May 29:

     Iudaſ go þou on þe roc heie upon the ſton / lei þin heued i my barm, ſlep þou þe anon

     "Judas, get up on the rock, high on the stone, / rest your head on my lap and fall asleep right away!"

   • c. 1368, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Book of the Duchess, as recorded c. 1450–1475 in Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 638, folio 110v:

     For Nature wolde nat ſuffyſe / To non erthly creature / Not longe tyme to endure / Without ſlepe & be yn ſorwe / And I ne may ne nyght ne morwe / Slepe […]

     For Nature will not allow / Any earthly creature / To survive for long / Without sleep, and sorrowing; / And yet I cannot, by night or morning, / Sleep,

   • 1387–1400, [Geoffrey] Chaucer, “Here Bygynneth the Book of the Tales of Caunt́burẏ”, in The Tales of Caunt́bury (Hengwrt Chaucer; Peniarth Manuscript 392D), Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: National Library of Wales, published c. 1400–1410], →OCLC, folio 2, recto, lines 9-10:

     And smale foweles maken melodye / That slepen al the nyght with open iye

     And small birds make melodies, / sleeping all night with an open eye.

   1. To fall asleep; to go to sleep.
   2. To cause to sleep; to make sleep.
2. (figuratively) To copulate, have intercourse
3. (figuratively) To be unused or dormant.

Conjugation

Related terms

• slepe, sleepe, sleep

Descendants

• English: sleep
  • Sranan Tongo: sribi
• Scots: sleep, sleip, slepe

References

• “slẹ̄pen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-20.