slumber

slumber

English

Alternative forms

• slumbre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English slombren, slomren, frequentative of Middle English slummen, slumen (“to doze”), probably from Middle English slume (“slumber”), from Old English slūma, from Proto-Germanic *slūm- (“slack, loose, limp, flabby”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- (“loose, limp, flabby”), equivalent to sloom +‎ -er. Cognate with West Frisian slommerje, slûmerje (“to slumber”), Dutch sluimeren (“to slumber”), German schlummern (“to slumber, doze”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈslʌm.bə/
• (General American) enPR: slŭmʹbər, IPA^(key): /ˈslʌm.bɚ/

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• Rhymes: -ʌmbə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: slum‧ber

Noun

slumber (plural slumbers)

1. A very light state of sleep, almost awake.
   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:

     Fast asleep? It is no matter; / Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber.

   • 1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour […]‎, London: Printed by J.M. for H. Herringman, published 1667, Act III, scene ii, page 29:

     Ev’n Luſt and Envy ſleep, yet Love denies
     Reſt to my Soul, and ſlumber to my Eyes.

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], OCLC 228725984; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, OCLC 5190338:

     He at last fell into a slumber, and thence into a fast sleep, which detained him in that place until it was almost night.

2. (figuratively) A state of ignorance or inaction.
   • 2009, Ben-Ami Scharfstein, Art without borders: a philosophical exploration of art and humanity

     Marcel Duchamp's urinal and readymades seemed in the beginning to be insider jokes or jokelike paradoxes meant to awaken people from their aesthetic slumbers.

3. (rare, as used by Magnavox clock radios) The snooze button on an alarm clock.

Derived terms

• slumbercoach, slumber coach
• slumberlike

Translations

a very light state of sleep

Arabic: سِنَة‎ (ar) f (sina) Armenian: նինջ (hy) (ninǰ), նիրհ (hy) (nirh) Azerbaijani: mürgü Bulgarian: дрямка (bg) f (drjamka) Dutch: sluimering (nl) f Esperanto: dormeto Finnish: uinuminen (fi), torkkuminen (fi) French: somnolence (fr) f Galician: soneira f, soneca (gl) f Georgian: თვლემა (tvlema), ძილი (ʒili), რული (ruli) German: Halbschlaf (de) m, Schlummer (de) m, Schläfchen (de) n Greek: υπνηλία (el) f (ypnilía), νύστα (el) f (nýsta) Hebrew: תְּנוּמָה‎ f (tnumá) Hungarian: félálom (hu) Italian: sonnolenza (it) f, dormiveglia (it) f Kurdish: Central Kurdish: وەنەوز‎ (wenewz), خەوەنوچکە‎ (xewenuçke) Northern Kurdish: hînişk (ku) f Norwegian: slumre, dorme (no) Persian: پینکی‎ (fa) (pinaki) Plautdietsch: Schlop (nds) m Polish: drzemka (pl) f Portuguese: pestana (pt) f, soneca (pt) f, cochilo (pt) m Russian: сон (ru) m (son), дрёма (ru) (drjóma) Sanskrit: निद्रा (sa) f (nidrā) Serbo-Croatian: drijémež (sh) m, drijȇm (sh) m Slovene: dremež m Spanish: adormecimiento (es) m, adormilamiento Swedish: slummer (sv) c

Verb

slumber (third-person singular simple present slumbers, present participle slumbering, simple past and past participle slumbered)

1. (intransitive) To be in a very light state of sleep, almost awake.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Psalm 121:4:

     He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

2. (intransitive) To be inactive or negligent.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To lay to sleep.
   • 1642, Henry Wotton, A Short View of the Life and Death of George Villers, Duke of Buckingham

     slumber his conscience

4. (transitive, obsolete) To stun; to stupefy.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:

     Then vp he tooke the slombred sencelesse corse.

Translations

to be in a very light state of sleep

Armenian: նիրհել (hy) (nirhel), ննջել (hy) (nnǰel) Azerbaijani: mürgüləmək (az), mürgü basmaq, mürgü vurmaq, mürgü çalmaq, mürgü döymək, mürgü almaq Bulgarian: дремя (bg) (dremja) Danish: slumre, blunde Dutch: sluimeren (nl) Esperanto: dormeti Finnish: uinua (fi), torkkua (fi) French: somnoler (fr) Galician: adurmiñar (gl) Georgian: თვლემა (tvlema) German: schlummern (de), dösen (de) Hungarian: szendereg (hu), szundít (hu), szundikál (hu), szunyókál (hu) Italian: dormiveglia (it), appisolarsi (it), assopirsi (it) Polish: drzemać (pl) impf, zdrzemnąć pf Portuguese: cochilar (pt), dormitar (pt) Romanian: dormita (ro), somnola (ro) Serbo-Croatian: drijémati (sh) Slovene: dremati Spanish: adormecer (es), adormilar (es), dormitar (es) Sranan Tongo: dyonko Swedish: slumra (sv) Ugaritic: 𐎊𐎌𐎐 (yšn)

to be inactive or negligent

Finnish: lorvailla (fi) German: träumen (de) Italian: appalugarsi (it) Norwegian: sløve Spanish: estar aletargado

See also

• catnap
• doze
• nap
• shuteye
• slumber party

Anagrams

• Blumers, Bulmers, Burslem, Rumbles, lumbers, rumbles, slumbre, umbrels