slugabed

See also: slug-a-bed

English

WOTD – 15 March 2019

Etymology

From slug (“(obsolete) to move slowly or sluggishly; to lie idle”) +‎ abed (“in bed”).[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈslʌɡəbɛd/
- Audio (UK) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈslʌɡəˌbɛd/, /ˈsləɡ-/
Hyphenation: slug‧a‧bed

Noun

slugabed (plural slugabeds)

A lazy person who lies in bed after the usual time for getting up; a sluggard.
Synonyms: late riser; see also Thesaurus:idler
- c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Iuliet. […] (Second Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, […], published 1599, OCLC 222309388, [Act IV, scene v]:
  Why Lambe, why Lady, fie you ſluggabed, / Why Loue I ſay, Madam, ſweeteheart, why Bride: / What not a word, you take your penniworths now, / Sleepe for a weeke, […]
- 1648, Robert Herrick, “Corinna’s Going a Maying”, in Hesperides, or The VVorks both Humane & Divine, London: Printed for John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, […], OCLC 951078816; republished in The Poetical Works of Robert Herrick, London: William Pickering, […], 1825, OCLC 779240046, pages 91–92:
  Get up, get up for shame, the blooming morne / Upon her wings presents the god unshorne. / See how Aurora throwes her faire / Fresh-quilted colours through the aire; / Get up, sweet slug-a-bed, and see / The dew bespangling herbe and tree.
- 1855, William Hurton, chapter XXIII, in The Doomed Ship; or, The Wreck of the Arctic Regions, London: Willoughby & Co., […], OCLC 29934103, page 103:
  [O]n rising one morning, I entered the cabin, and found Oriana, as usual, up before me, for I always was a sad slug-a-bed, […]
- 1980 August, Robert A[nson] Heinlein, “‘—A Wedding Ring is Not a Ring in My Nose—’”, in The Number of the Beast, New York, N.Y.: Fawcett Columbine, →ISBN; republished as The Number of the Beast (Fawcett Gold Medal Book), New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, July 1982, →ISBN, page 41:
  You men have had baths, while Aunt Hilda and I haven't had a chance to get clean for fear of waking you slugabeds.
- 2004, Tom Hodgkinson, “8 a.m.: Waking Up is Hard to Do”, in How to Be Idle, London: Hamish Hamilton, →ISBN; How to Be Idle: A Loafer’s Manifesto, paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper Perennial, 2007, →ISBN, page 12:
  Sometimes the dedicated slugabed is rudely awakened by the yelling of builders, the bustle of housemates, the entreaties of toddlers or even dawn's rosy figures coming in at the window. These impediments to sleep must be blocked out if you are to enjoy your morning doze.

Alternative forms

slug-a-bed
sluggabed
slugabug

Translations

lazy person who lies in bed after the usual time for getting up

French: dormeur (fr) m, dormeuse (fr) f, lève-tard (fr) m or f
German: Langschläfer (de) m, Langschläferin (de) f, Spätaufsteher m, Spätaufsteherin f
Italian: dormiglione (it) m or f

References

“slug-a-bed, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1912; “slugabed”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.