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Webster 1913 Edition

Dream

Dream

(drēm)
,
Noun.
[Akin to OS.
drōm
, D.
droom
, G.
traum
, Icel.
draumr
, Dan. & Sw.
dröm
; cf. G.
trügen
to deceive, Skr.
druh
to harm, hurt, try to hurt. AS.
dreám
joy, gladness, and OS.
drōm
joy are, perh., different words; cf. Gr.
θρῦλοσ
noise.]
1.
The thoughts, or series of thoughts, or imaginary transactions, which occupy the mind during sleep; a sleeping vision.
Dreams
are but interludes which fancy makes.
Dryden.
I had a
dream
which was not all a
dream
.
Byron.
2.
A visionary scheme; a wild conceit; an idle fancy; a vagary; a revery; – in this sense, applied to an imaginary or anticipated state of happiness;
as, a
dream
of bliss; the
dream
of his youth.
There sober thought pursued the amusing theme,
Till Fancy colored it and formed a
dream
.
Pope.
It is not them a mere
dream
, but a very real aim which they propose.
J. C. Shairp.

Dream

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Dreamed
(drēmd)
or
Dreamt
(drĕmt);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Dreaming
.]
[Cf. AS.
drēman
,
drȳman
, to rejoice. See
Dream
,
Noun.
]
1.
To have ideas or images in the mind while in the state of sleep; to experience sleeping visions; – often with of;
as, to
dream
of a battle, or of an absent friend
.
2.
To let the mind run on in idle revery or vagary; to anticipate vaguely as a coming and happy reality; to have a visionary notion or idea; to imagine.
Here may we sit and
dream

Over the heavenly theme
Keble.
.
They
dream
on in a constant course of reading, but not digesting
Locke.
.

Dream

,
Verb.
T.
To have a dream of; to see, or have a vision of, in sleep, or in idle fancy; – often followed by an objective clause.
Your old men shall
dream
dreams
Acts ii. 17.
.
At length in sleep their bodies they compose,
And
dreamt
the future fight
Dryden.
.
And still they
dream
that they shall still succeed
Cowper.
.
To dream away
To dream out
,
To dream through
, etc.
,
to pass in revery or inaction; to spend in idle vagaries;
as, to
dream away
an hour; to
dream through
life
.
“ Why does Antony dream out his hours?”
Dryden.

Webster 1828 Edition

Dream

DREAM

,
Noun.
[G.]
1.
The thought or series of thoughts of a person in sleep. We apply dream, in the singular, to a series of thoughts, which occupy the mind of a sleeping person, in which he imagines he has a view of real things or transactions. A dream is a series of thoughts not under the command of reason, and hence wild and irregular.
2.
In scripture, dreams were sometimes impressions on the minds of sleeping persons, made by divine agency. God came to Abimelech in a dream. Joseph was warned by God in a dream. Genesis 20. Matthew 2.
3.
A vain fancy; a wild conceit; an unfounded suspicion.

DREAM

,
Verb.
I.
pret. dreamed or dreamt. [G.]
1.
To have ideas or images in the mind, in the state of sleep; with of before a noun; as, to dream of a battle; to dream of an absent friend.
2.
To think; to imagine; as, he little dreamed of his approaching fate.
3.
To think idly.
They dream on in a course of reading, without digesting.
4.
To be sluggish; to waste time in vain thoughts; as, to dream away life.

DREAM

,
Verb.
T.
To see in a dream.
And dreamt the future fight.
It is followed by a noun of the like signification; as, to dream a dream.

Definition 2024

dream

dream

English

Noun

dream ‎(plural dreams)

  1. Imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping.
    • John Dryden (1631-1700)
      Dreams are but interludes which fancy makes.
    • Lord Byron (1788-1824)
      I had a dream which was not all a dream.
    • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, chapter II:
      She wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, drowsily realising that since she had fallen asleep it had come on to rain smartly out of a shrouded sky.
  2. A hope or wish.
    • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 29686887 , chapter IV:
      So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
    • Martin Luther King
      I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!
    • 2012 August 5, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993)”, in (Please provide the title of the work):
      Ralph Wiggum is generally employed as a bottomless fount of glorious non sequiturs, but in “I Love Lisa” he stands in for every oblivious chump who ever deluded himself into thinking that with persistence, determination, and a pure heart he can win the girl of his dreams.
  3. A visionary scheme; a wild conceit; an idle fancy.
    a dream of bliss;  the dream of his youth‎
    • Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
      There sober thought pursued the amusing theme, / Till Fancy coloured it and formed a dream.
    • John Shairp (1819-1885)
      It is not to them a mere dream, but a very real aim which they propose.

Synonyms

  • (events experienced whilst asleep): sweven (archaic)

Derived terms

See also

Translations

Verb

dream ‎(third-person singular simple present dreams, present participle dreaming, simple past and past participle dreamed or dreamt)

  1. (intransitive) To see imaginary events in one's mind while sleeping.
  2. (intransitive) To hope, to wish.
  3. (intransitive) To daydream.
    Stop dreaming and get back to work.‎
  4. (transitive) To envision as an imaginary experience (usually when asleep).
    I dreamed a vivid dream last night.‎
    • (Can we date this quote?) Cowper
      And still they dream that they shall still succeed.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Dryden
      At length in sleep their bodies they compose, / And dreamt the future fight, and early rose.
  5. (intransitive) To consider the possibility (of).
    I wouldn't dream of snubbing you in public.‎
    • 1599-1602, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I scene 5, lines 167-8
      There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
    • 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher, chapter1:
      But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶ […] The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window […], and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them.

Derived terms

Usage notes

  • "Dreamt" is less common in both US and UK English in current usage, though somewhat more prevalent in the UK than in the US.

Translations

References

  1. ↑ “dream” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001)..

Anagrams

Irish

Etymology

From Middle Irish dremm ‎(“crowd, throng”).

Pronunciation

Noun

dream m ‎(genitive singular dreama, nominative plural dreamanna)

  1. crowd, group of people, party (group of people traveling or attending an event together, or participating in the same activity)
    • 1929, Tomás Ó Criomhthain, An tOileánach, chapter 4 “Scolaidheacht agus Fánaidheacht”, p. 48:
      Thug sé scilling do’n té ab’ fhearr is gach rang agus ar shíneadh na scillinge ’nár rang-ne ní h-aenne de’n dream mór do fuair í ach me féin.
      He gave a shilling to the best one in each class, and when he was giving out shillings in our class, there wasn't one in that big group who got one but me myself.

Declension

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
dream dhream ndream
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

  1. ↑ Myles Dillon and Donncha Ó Cróinín, Teach Yourself Irish, Hodder and Stoughton 1961, ISBN 0-340-27841-2, p. 224.
  2. ↑ Diarmuid Ó Sé, Gaeilge Chorca Dhuibhne, Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann 2000, ISBN 0-946452-97-0, § 537.
  3. ↑ T. S. Ó Máille, Liosta Focal as Ros Muc, Irish University Press 1974, p. 75.
  4. ↑ Franz Nikolaus Finck, Die araner mundart, Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung 1899, vol. II, p. 87.
  5. ↑ E. C. Quiggin, A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press 1906, § 4.
  • “drem(m)” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.
  • “dream” in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, Irish Texts Society, 1927, by Patrick S. Dinneen.
  • "dream" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.

Old English

Pronunciation

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *draumaz, whence also Old Frisian drām, Old Saxon drōm ‎(“joy, music, dream”), Old High German troum, Old Norse draumr.

Noun

drēam m ‎(nominative plural drēamas)

  1. joy, pleasure, ecstasy
    Ðær biþ drincendra dream se micla.‎
    There is the great joy of drinkers.
  2. music, song
    Iohannes gehyrde swylce bymena dream.‎
    John heard, as it were, the sound of trumpets.

Descendants

  • Middle English: dreem

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian drām, from Proto-Germanic *draumaz. Compare North Frisian drom, English dream, Low German Droom, Dutch droom, German Traum, Danish drøm.

Noun

dream c ‎(plural dreamen)

  1. dream
  2. daydream

Etymology

From Middle English dreme, from Old English drēam ‎(“joy, pleasure, gladness, delight, mirth, rejoicing, rapture, ecstasy, frenzy, music, musical instrument, harmony, melody, song, singing, jubilation, sound of music”), from Proto-Germanic *draumaz, from earlier *draugmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- ‎(“to deceive, injure, damage”). The meaning was influenced in Middle English by Old Norse draumr ‎(“dream”), from same Proto-Germanic root. Cognate with Scots dreme ‎(“dream”), North Frisian drom ‎(“dream”), West Frisian dream ‎(“dream”), Low German Droom, Dutch droom ‎(“dream”), German Traum ‎(“dream”), Danish drøm, Swedish dröm ‎(“dream”), Icelandic draumur ‎(“dream”). Related also to Old English drēag ‎(“spectre, apparition”), Dutch bedrog ‎(“deception, deceit”), German Trug ‎(“deception, illusion”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: drēm, IPA(key): /dɹiːm/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /dɹim/
  • Rhymes: -iːm
  • IPA(key): /ˈdræːam/

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