forty winks

English

Noun

forty winks pl (plural only)

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

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

   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, Episode 16

     […] 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.

Synonyms

• (short sleep): nap, shut-eye, twenty winks

Translations

short sleep

• Latin: intervigilium n

• Scottish Gaelic: dùsal m, norrag f