forty winks

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

forty winks pl (plural only)

1. (idiomatic) A short sleep, an extra sleep, a nap.

   Synonyms: nap, shut-eye, twenty winks; see also Thesaurus:shut-eye

   As you're so tired, why not try to catch forty winks before you leave?

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[[Episode 16]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

     […] who evidently a glutton for work, it struck him, was having a quiet forty winks for all intents and purposes on his own private account while Dublin slept.

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Eden Prime:

     Powell: I... sometimes I need a nap to get through my shift. I sneak off behind the crates to grab forty winks where the supervisor can't find me.

Translations

short sleep

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 打盹兒／打盹儿 (zh) (dǎdǔnér)

• Finnish: nokoset (fi) pl
• Galician: soneca (gl) f
• German: eine Mütze (voll) Schlaf (idiom)
• Hungarian: szundikálás (hu), szunyókálás (hu), szundi, szundítás (hu)
• Latin: intervigilium n
• Scottish Gaelic: dùsal m, norrag f