dream
Contents |
English[edit]
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)
- 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.
- Dryden
- A hope or wish.
- 2012 August 5, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993)”:
- 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.
- 2012 August 5, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993)”:
- 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]
See also[edit]
Translations[edit]
|
|
|
|
- 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.
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)
- (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 ...
- 1979, Jack Conroy, Jack Salzman, David Ray, The Jack Conroy Reader[1], Ayer Publishing, ISBN 9780891021162, page 59:
- (intransitive) To hope, to wish
- (intransitive) To daydream
- Stop dreaming and get back to work.
- (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]
|
|
|
|
|
|
- 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.
|
References[edit]
External links[edit]
- dream in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- dream in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
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)
- joy, pleasure, ecstasy
- Ðær biþ drincendra dream se micla: there is the great joy of drinkers.
- 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)
- dream, daydream
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English verbs
- English irregular verbs
- en:Sleep
- en:Thinking
- Old English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Old English nouns
- West Frisian terms derived from Old Frisian
- West Frisian terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- West Frisian nouns
- fy:Sleep