Sleeps

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /sliːps/

Definitions

1. Rests by entering a state of sleep to recover energy
2. Spends time in unconscious rest to refresh the body and mind
3. Experiences a period of inactivity, typically at night, for renewal of strength

Etymology: "Sleeps" is simply the third-person singular present form of the verb "sleep", used with he, she, or it, and with a plural noun such as "sleeps" in the sense of a count of nights. The verb descends from Old English "slǣpan", which goes back to a Proto-Germanic root "*slēpaną". That root is shared with German "schlafen", Dutch "slapen", and Gothic "slēpan", so the verb has been in the Germanic languages for a very long time. The noun "sleep" has the same ancestry: Old English "slǣp" is the source of the word for the state itself, and it corresponds to German "Schlaf" and Dutch "slaap". Word pairs like this, where a verb and noun share a root, are common in the Germanic family, and "sleep" is one of the oldest members of the set.

Synonyms: rests, slumbers, dozes, naps, reclines

Antonyms: wakes, awakens, stirs, arouses, gets up