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Nightmare
Definitions
- 1 A very unpleasant or frightening dream.
"I had a nightmare that I tried to run but could neither move nor breathe."
- 2 a terrifying or deeply upsetting dream wordnet
- 3 Any bad, miserable, difficult or terrifying situation or experience that arouses anxiety, terror, agony or great displeasure. figuratively
"Cleaning up after identity theft can be a nightmare of phone calls and letters."
- 4 a situation resembling a terrifying dream wordnet
- 5 A demon or monster, thought to plague people while they slept and cause a feeling of suffocation and terror during sleep. archaic
"It haunted me, however, more than once, like a night-mare."
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- 6 A feeling of extreme anxiety or suffocation experienced during sleep; sleep paralysis. historical
"The Night-mare generally ſeizes people ſleeping on their backs, and often begins with frightful dreams, which are ſoon ſucceeded by a difficult reſpiration, a violent oppreſſion on the breaſt, and a total privation of voluntary motion."
- 1 To experience a nightmare. intransitive
"Brother Fary of Omaha was nightmaring the rest of the night."
- 2 To imagine (someone or something) as in a nightmare. transitive
"She was the last person I’d expected to see, although I had not expected to see anyone at all. For a moment I thought it was a nightmare, and that I was nightmaring the whole thing."
- 3 To trouble (someone or something), as by a nightmare. transitive
"THe day is broke! Melpomene, be gone; / Hag of my Fancy, let me now alone: / Night-mare my ſoul no more; Go take thy flight / Where Traytors Ghoſts keep an eternal night; […]"
Etymology
From Middle English nyghtmare, from Old English *nihtmare, equivalent to night + mare (“evil spirit believed to afflict a sleeping person”). Cognate with Scots nichtmare and nichtmeer, Dutch nachtmerrie, Middle Low German nachtmār, German Nachtmahr.
From Middle English nyghtmare, from Old English *nihtmare, equivalent to night + mare (“evil spirit believed to afflict a sleeping person”). Cognate with Scots nichtmare and nichtmeer, Dutch nachtmerrie, Middle Low German nachtmār, German Nachtmahr.
See also for "nightmare"
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