Meaning

18 senses
  1. Someone who sleeps.

    I'm a light sleeper: I get woken up by the smallest of sounds.

    She's a heavy sleeper: it takes a lot to wake her up.

    Schläfer

    со́няsónja

    a rester who is sleeping

  2. That which lies dormant, as a law.

  3. A spy, saboteur, or terrorist who lives unobtrusively in a community until activated by a prearranged signal; may be part of a sleeper cell.

    Schläfer

    спя́щий аге́нтspjáščij agént, кротkrot, диверса́нтdiversánt

    a spy or saboteur or terrorist planted in an enemy country who lives there as a law-abiding citizen until activated by a prearranged signal

  4. A small starter earring, worn to prevent a piercing from closing.

  5. A railway sleeping car.

    We spent a night on an uncomfortable sleeper between Athens and Vienna.

    a passenger car that has berths for sleeping

  6. A sleeper hold.

  7. Something that achieves unexpected success after an interval of time.

    A box-office bomb when it first came out, the film was a sleeper, becoming much more popular decades after being released.

    an unexpected achiever of success

  8. Any member of the family Odontobutidae of goby-like bottom-feeding freshwater fish.

    tropical fish that resembles a goby and rests quietly on the bottom in shallow water

  9. A nurse shark (family Ginglymostomatidae).

  10. A type of pajama for a person, especially a child, that covers the whole body, including the feet.

    Aaron, Devin, and Laura looked so comfy in their sleepers.

    Strampelanzug

  11. (slang)An automobile which has been internally modified to excess, while retaining a mostly stock appearance in order to fool opponents in a drag race, or to avoid the attention of the police.

  12. (slang)A sedative.

Examples

68 sentences
  1. Tom is a very sound sleeper.

    deTom hat einen sehr festen Schlaf. — Manfredo

  2. Tom is a very light sleeper.

    ruТом очень чутко спит. — marafon

    deTom hat einen sehr leichten Schlaf. — wolfgangth

  3. I'm usually a very sound sleeper.

    deIch habe gewöhnlich einen sehr tiefen Schlaf. — Pfirsichbaeumchen

  4. Tom is a very heavy sleeper.

  5. Tom is a heavy sleeper, isn't he?

Translations

7 languages
Русский
By meaning 2
someone who sleeps:
spy, saboteur or terrorist waiting to be activated:
Deutsch
By meaning 4
someone who sleeps:
type of pajamas that covers the whole body:
structural timber in a floor perpendicular to the joists and floorboards:
structural beam at the bottom of a wall, a roof framework or a similar structure:

Origin

From Middle English sleper, equivalent to sleep + -er. Compare Norwegian sleip (“a sleepe

From Middle English sleper, equivalent to sleep + -er.

Compare Norwegian sleip (“a sleeper (a timber); as adjective, slippery, smooth”). See slape.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: sleepers
Singularsleeper
Pluralsleepers

regular

Synonyms

9 synonyms
goby-like fish:sleeper goby
Close in meaning

Antonyms

3 antonyms

Word family

32 related words

Collocations

7 patterns
  • very sound sleeper
  • light sleeper
  • very light sleeper
  • sound sleeper
  • a heavy sleeper
  • a light sleeper
  • heavy sleeper

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
sleeper — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto