Refine this word faster
Sleeper
Definitions
- 1 A surname.
- 1 Someone who sleeps.
"I'm a light sleeper: I get woken up by the smallest of sounds."
- 2 A railroad tie. British
"The train, minus the three abandoned trucks, again proceeded at a slow pace, with a pump trolley doing pilot ahead ; this was very necessary as a great many sleepers were found to have been burnt underneath the fishplates."
- 3 an unexpected hit wordnet
- 4 That which lies dormant, as a law.
"Therefore let penal laws, if they have been sleepers of long, or if they be grown unfit for the present time, be by wise judged confined in the execution […]"
- 5 A structural beam in a floor running perpendicular to both the joists beneath and floorboards above.
Show 22 more definitions
- 6 tropical fish that resembles a goby and rests quietly on the bottom in shallow water wordnet
- 7 A spy, saboteur, or terrorist who lives unobtrusively in a community until activated by a prearranged signal; may be part of a sleeper cell.
"We are up against the pros; and pros who have been involved in this kind of activity for many years. […] The public apathy today is disturbing — few realize, Mr. Chairman, that there are sleepers in this country and we know that they are able to manipulate at will behind the scenes."
- 8 A heavy floor timber in a ship's bottom.
- 9 a piece of furniture that can be opened up into a bed wordnet
- 10 A small starter earring, worn to prevent a piercing from closing.
"His skull earring had been replaced by a small gold sleeper. […] Fiona, who also had pierced ears, remarked on his sleeper. “Doesn’t Wilton allow pierced ears?” she asked. “No way!” said Leslie. “Rules about everything. But I wanted to keep my options open, as you might say. No one’s made me take it out yet. […]”"
- 11 The lowest, or bottom, tier of casks.
- 12 pajamas with feet; worn by children wordnet
- 13 A railway sleeping car.
"We spent a night on an uncomfortable sleeper between Athens and Vienna."
- 14 a passenger car that has berths for sleeping wordnet
- 15 A sleeper hold.
- 16 one of the cross braces that support the rails on a railway track wordnet
- 17 Something that achieves unexpected success after an interval of time.
"A box-office bomb when it first came out, the film was a sleeper, becoming much more popular decades after being released."
- 18 a rester who is sleeping wordnet
- 19 Any of family Odontobutidae of goby-like bottom-feeding freshwater fish.
- 20 an unexpected achiever of success wordnet
- 21 A nurse shark (family Ginglymostomatidae).
- 22 a spy or saboteur or terrorist planted in an enemy country who lives there as a law-abiding citizen until activated by a prearranged signal wordnet
- 23 A type of pajama for a person, especially a child, that covers the whole body, including the feet.
"Aaron, Devin, and Laura looked so comfy in their sleepers."
- 24 An automobile which has been internally modified to excess, while retaining a mostly stock appearance in order to fool opponents in a drag race, or to avoid the attention of the police. slang
- 25 A sedative. slang
"At least a couple of weeks since I last slept, / Kept takin' sleepers, but now I keep myself pepped."
- 26 A bet placed on the gambling table and then forgotten about by the gambler. slang
- 27 A pod or similar device containing a person in cryosleep.
- 1 To mark a calf by cutting its ear. rare
"I expect there ain't a trick to maverickin' and sleeperin' and changin' a brand he don't know."
Etymology
From Middle English sleper, equivalent to sleep + -er.
From Middle English sleper, equivalent to sleep + -er.
Compare Norwegian sleip (“a sleeper (a timber); as adjective, slippery, smooth”). See slape.
See also for "sleeper"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: sleeper