dream

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English[edit]

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Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English dreem, possibly 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, *draugmaz (“festivity, dream, ghost, hallucination, delusion, deception”), from Proto-Germanic *draugaz (“delusion, mirage, illusion”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrAugʰ-, *dʰreugʰ- (“to deceive, injure, damage”); meaning 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”).

The derivation from Old English drēam is controversial, since the word itself is only attested in writing in its meaning of “joy, mirth, musical sound”. Possibly there was a separate word drēam meaning “images seen while sleeping”, which was avoided in literature due to potential confusion with “joy” sense, which would account for the common definition in the other Germanic languages, or the derivation may indeed simply be a strange progression from “mirth, joy, musical sound”.[1]

Attested words for “sleeping vision” in Old English were mǣting (Middle English mæte, mēte), from unclear source, and swefn (Modern English sweven), from Proto-Germanic *swefną, from Proto-Indo-European *swepno-, *swep-; compare Ancient Greek ὕπνος (hypnos, “sleep”).

Noun[edit]

dream (plural dreams)

  1. Imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping.
    • Dryden
      Dreams are but interludes which fancy makes.
    • Byron
      I had a dream which was not all a dream.
  2. A hope or wish.
  3. A visionary scheme; a wild conceit; an idle fancy.
    a dream of bliss; the dream of his youth
    • Alexander Pope
      There sober thought pursued the amusing theme, / Till Fancy coloured it and formed a dream.
    • J. C. Shairp
      It is not to them a mere dream, but a very real aim which they propose.
Synonyms[edit]
  • (events experienced whilst asleep): sweven (archaic)
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from dream (noun)
See also[edit]
Translations[edit]
imaginary events seen while sleeping
hope or wish
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English dremen, possibly (see above) from Old English drīeman (“to make a joyous sound with voice or with instrument; rejoice; sing a song; play on an instrument”), from Proto-Germanic *draumijaną, *draugmijaną (“to be festive, dream, hallucinate”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrAugʰ-, *dʰreugʰ- (“to deceive, injure, damage”). Cognate with Scots dreme (“to dream”), West Frisian dreame (“to dream”), Dutch dromen (“to dream”), German träumen (“to dream”), Swedish drömma (“to dream, muse”), Icelandic dreyma (“to dream”).

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (intransitive) To see imaginary events in one's mind while sleeping
    1979, Jack Conroy, Jack Salzman, David Ray, The Jack Conroy Reader[1], Ayer Publishing, ISBN 9780891021162, page 59:
    I drempt I was wound round tight as drum, hand and foot, with morning glory vines, and they was chokin' my neck same as they do the corn. I drempt I had cockleburrs stuck in my hair like a pincushion ...
  2. (intransitive) To hope, to wish
  3. (intransitive) To daydream
    Stop dreaming and get back to work.
  4. (transitive) to create an imaginary experience (usually when asleep)
    I dreamed a vivid dream last night.
Derived terms[edit]
Usage notes[edit]
  • "Dreamt" is less common in both US and UK English in current usage, though somewhat more prevalent in the UK than in the US. "Drempt" is quite rare.
Translations[edit]
see imaginary events while sleeping
to hope, to wish
to daydream
to create an imaginary experience
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

References[edit]

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

External links[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Old English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA: /ˈdræːam/

Etymology[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

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.

Descendents[edit]

West Frisian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

dream c (plural dreamen)

  1. dream, daydream
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