English Explanatory Dictionary

slumber

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A very light state of sleep, almost awake.
  2. A very heavy state of sleep.
  3. A state of ignorance or inaction.
  4. The snooze button on an alarm clock.
verb
  1. To be in a very light state of sleep, almost awake.
  2. To be inactive or negligent.
  3. To lay to sleep.
  4. To stun; to stupefy.

Pronunciation

/ˈslʌm.bə/ slŭmʹbər /ˈslʌm.bɚ/ en-us-slumber.ogg /ˈslʊm.bə/

Word forms

slumber slumbers slumbre slumbering slumbered

Etymology

From Middle English slombren, slomren, frequentative of Middle English slummen, slumen (“to doze”), probably from Middle English slume (“slumber”), from Old English slūma, from Proto-Germanic *slūm- (“slack, loose, limp, flabby”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- (“loose, limp, flabby”). Cognate with West Frisian slommerje, slûmerje (“to slumber”), Dutch sluimeren (“to slumber”), German schlummern (“to slumber, doze”), Swedish slummer (“to slumber”). By surface analysis, sloom + -er.

Related words

catnap doze nap shuteye slumber party

Derived words

enslumber slumbercoach slumber coach slumberful slumberland slumberless slumberlike slumberous slumber room slumbersome slumberwear slumbery aslumber slumberer

Translations

Arabic: سِنَة Armenian: նինջ Armenian: նիրհ Azerbaijani: mürgü Bulgarian: дрямка Danish: slummer Danish: blund Dutch: sluimering Esperanto: dormeto Finnish: uinuminen Finnish: torkkuminen French: somnolence Galician: soneira Galician: soneca Georgian: თვლემა Georgian: ძილი Georgian: რული German: Halbschlaf German: Schlummer German: Schläfchen Greek: υπνηλία Greek: νύστα Hebrew: תְּנוּמָה Hungarian: félálom Italian: sonnolenza Italian: dormiveglia Central Kurdish: وەنەوز Central Kurdish: خەوەنوچکە Northern Kurdish: hînişk Norwegian: slumre Norwegian: dorme Persian: پینکی Plautdietsch: Schlop (nds) Polish: drzemka Portuguese: pestana Portuguese: soneca Portuguese: cochilo Russian: сон Russian: дрёма Sanskrit: निद्रा Serbo-Croatian: drijémež Serbo-Croatian: drijȇm Slovene: dremež Spanish: adormecimiento Spanish: adormilamiento Swedish: slummer
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