Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Sleeper

Sleep′er

,
Noun.
1.
One who sleeps; a slumberer; hence, a drone, or lazy person.
2.
That which lies dormant, as a law.
[Obs.]
Bacon.
3.
A sleeping car.
[Colloq. U.S.]
4.
(Zool.)
An animal that hibernates, as the bear.
5.
(Zool.)
(a)
A large fresh-water gobioid fish (
Eleotris dormatrix
).
(b)
A nurse shark. See under
Nurse
.

Sleep′er

,
Noun.
[Cf. Norw.
sleip
a sleeper (a timber), as adj., slippery, smooth. See
Slape
.]
Something lying in a reclining posture or position.
Specifically: –
(a)
One of the pieces of timber, stone, or iron, on or near the level of the ground, for the support of some superstructure, to steady framework, to keep in place the rails of a railway, etc.; a stringpiece.
(b)
One of the joists, or roughly shaped timbers, laid directly upon the ground, to receive the flooring of the ground story.
[U.S.]
(c)
(Naut.)
One of the knees which connect the transoms to the after timbers on the ship’s quarter.
(d)
(Naut.)
The lowest, or bottom, tier of casks.

Webster 1828 Edition

Sleeper

SLEE'PER

,
Noun.
1.
A person that sleeps; also, a drone or lazy person.
2.
That which lies dormant, as a law not executed. [Not in use.]
3.
AN animal that lies dormant in winter, as the bear, the marmot, & c.
4.
In building, the oblique rafter that lies in a gutter,
5.
In New England, a floor timber.
6.
In ship-building, a thick piece of timber placed longitudinally in a ship's hold, opposite the several scarfs of the timbers, for strengthening the bows and stern-frame, particularly in the Greenland ships; or a piece of long compass-timber fayed and bolted diagonally upon the transoms.
7.
In the glass trade, a large iron bar crossing the smaller ones, hindering the passage of coals, but leaving room for the ashes.
8.
A platform.
9.
A fish. [exocatus.]

Definition 2024

sleeper

sleeper

English

Noun

sleeper ‎(plural sleepers)

  1. Someone who sleeps.
    I'm a light sleeper: I get woken up by the smallest of sounds.
    She's a heavy sleeper: it takes a lot to wake her up.
  2. That which lies dormant, as a law.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Francis Bacon
      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 […]
  3. A spy, saboteur, or terrorist who lives unobtrusively in a community until activated by a prearranged signal; may be part of a sleeper cell.
  4. A railroad sleeping car.
    We spent a night on an uncomfortable sleeper between Athens and Vienna.
  5. 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.
  6. A goby-like bottom-feeding freshwater fish of the family Odontobutidae.
  7. A nurse shark (family taxlink|Ginglymostomatidae|family|noshow=1|ver=161011}}).
  8. 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.
  9. (slang) An automobile which, not too quick out of the factory, 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.
  10. (slang) A sedative.
    • 1995, Faithless (band), Insomnia (song)
      At least a couple of weeks since I last slept,
      Kept takin' sleepers, but now I keep myself pepped.
  11. A small starter earring.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Compare Norwegian sleip ‎(“a sleeper (a timber); as adjective, slippery, smooth”). See slape.

Noun

sleeper ‎(plural sleepers)

  1. (rail transport, Britain) A railroad tie.
    The short wooden bars are sleepers, and the long metal bars are rails.
    • 1901, Gipps, George, The Fighting in North China (up to the Fall of Tientsin City), Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh, OL 23299616M, page 40:
      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.
  2. (carpentry) A structural beam in a floor running perpendicular to both the joists beneath and floorboards above.
  3. (nautical) A heavy floor timber in a ship's bottom.
  4. (nautical) The lowest, or bottom, tier of casks.
Synonyms
  • (horizontal member that supports railway lines): tie (US)
Translations

Anagrams

References

Etymology

sleep +‎ -er

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -iːpə(r)

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