sleeking 
5690 
ing, the operation of putting the fur nap on the felt body. 
(6) In leather-manuj., the use of the sleeker or slicker. 
sleeking-glass, slicking-glass (sle'king-, slik'- 
We deep over our happiness, and want to be roused to 
a quick thankful sense of it. Up. Atterlnm/ 
BKing-giass sljcKlng-glass (sie'king-, slik'- 6 In bot to assume t t , 
mg-glas), , A glass or glass-faced implement We functi ' ons , ana i ogous to i he 8 i e |p ing o f alli . 
used to give a gloss to textile fabrics. 
sleekit (sle'kit), o. [Sc. form of slctl;e<l,~\ 1. 
Sleeked ; having smooth hair or a sleek skin. 
Wee, sleekit, cow'rin', tim'rous beastie. 
Burns, To a Mouse. 
2. Figuratively, smooth and plausible ; deceit- 
ful; sly; cunning. [Scotch in botli uses.] 
sleekly, slickly (slek'li, slik'li), adv. In a sleek 
manner; smoothly; glossily. 
sleekness, slickness (slek'nes, slik'nes), n. 
Sleek character or appearance ; smoothness and 
glossiness of surface. 
sleek-stonet, slick-stonet (slek'-, slik'ston), n. 
[Early mod. E. slyckestone, slekestone, < ME. 
sleky stone, slikestone, slyke stone, sclykstone (also 
sleken stone, sleight stone, sleffht-stone) (= Icel. 
sliki-steinn, whetstone) ; as sleek, slickl, + stone.} 
mals. See sleep, n., 5. 
Erythrina crista-galli, out of doors and nailed against a 
wall, seemed in fairly good health, but the leaflets did not 
sleep, whilst those on another plant kept in a warm green- 
house were all vertically dependent at night. 
Darwin, Movement in Plants, p. 318. 
7. To be or become numb through stoppage of 
the circulation : said of parts of the body. See 
asleep Sleeping partner. See partnc-: To sleep 
upon both ears. See earl . = Syn. 1 and 2. Drowse, i~ 
. . . . , , 
Slumber, Sleep, nap, rest, repose. The flrst four words ex- 
press the stages from full consciousness to full uncon- 
sciousness in sleep. Sleep is the standard or general word. 
Drowse expresses that state of heaviness when one does 
not quite surrender to sleep. Doze expresses the endeavor 
to take a sort of waking nap. Slumber has largely lost its 
earlier sense of the light beginning of sleep, and is now 
more often an elevated or poetical word for sleep. 
II. trails. 1. To take rest in : with a cognate 
A heavy and smooth stone used for smoothing object, and therefore transitive in form only : 
or polishing anything. 
Shee that wanteth a sleeke-stone to smooth Mr linnen wil 
take a pebble. Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 220. 
I had said that, because the Remonstrant was so mucb 
offended with those who were tart against the Prelats, 
sure he lov'd toothlesse Satire, which I took were as im- 
proper as a toothed Sleekstane. 
Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus. 
sleeky (sle'ki), a. [< sleek + -yi.] 1. Of a sleek 
or smooth appearance. 
Sweet .*./,// doctor, dear paciflck soul ! 
Lay at the beef, and suck the vital bowl I 
Thomson, To the Soporific Doctor. 
2. Sly; cunning; fawning; deceitful: as, a 
sleeky knave, 
sleep (slep), v. ; pret. and pp. slept, ppr. sleeping. 
[<ffE.8lepen,8lapen,sclepen,sclapen(Tpret.slepie, r r~ e ~~- K - 
pp. sleped, slept, also, as orig., with strong forms, tion for : as, a car or cabin that can sleep thirty ? s ff--<>ea-at-noon. 
persons. [Colloq.] ' sleep-drunk (slep'drungk), a. Being in the con- 
They were to have a double row of beds "two tire" di <; lol \ of ,, a person who has slept heavily, and 
high to admit of sleeping 100 men and 60 women when half -awake is confused or excited. 
Quoted in Ribton-Turner's Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 399. Sleeper 1 
as, to sleep the sleep that knows no waking. 
He ther slepte no slepe, manly waked ryght, 
The sparhauke sagely fede by gouernaunce, 
A repaste hym yaf wel to conysaunce. 
Rom. of Partenay (E. E. T. 8.), I. 5463. 
Yet sleeps a dreamless sleep to me. 
Tennyson, Day-Dream, L'Envoi. 
2. With away : To pass or consume in sleep- 
ing: as, to sleep away the hours ; to sleep away diurnal sleep. 
one's life. 3. With off or out : To get rid of On sleep*, asleep, 
or overcome by sleeping; recover from during 
sleep : as, to sleep off a headache or a debauch. 
And there, 
When he has slept it out, he will perhaps 
Be cur'd, and give us answerable thanks. 
Brome, Queens Exchange, ill. 
sleeper 
in different cases. Thus, among the Oxalidacese the sleep- 
movement consists in the downward sinking of the leaf- 
lets, which become at the same time folded on them- 
selves. Among the Leguminosie, the leaflets, in some cases 
simply sink vertically downward (Phaseulea') ; in others, 
they sink down while the main petiole rises (terminal 
leaflet of Destnodium) ; in others, they sink downward 
and twist on their axes so that their upper surfaces are in 
contact beneath the main petiole (Cassia) ; in others, again, 
they rise and bend backward toward the insertion of the 
petiole (Cornnilla) ; in others, they rise, and the main 
petiole rises also, whereas in Mimosa pu<Iica the leaflets 
rise and bend forward, while the main petiole falls. In 
Marsitea the leaflets rise up, the two upper ones being em- 
braced by the two lower. (S. //. Vines.) The mechanism 
of these movements is explained by Pfeffer and others as 
due to an increased growth on one side of the median line 
of the petiole or midrib, followed, after a certain interval 
of time, by a corresponding growth on the opposite side. 
It is also accomplished by simple turgescence of opposite 
sides. The utility of the sleep-movements is believed to 
consist in protection from toogfeat radiation. The cause 
or causes of these movements (and of analogous move- 
ments which have been called diurnal sleep: see the 
second quotation) are only imperfectly known, but they 
are undoubtedly largely due to sensitiveness to variations 
in the intensity of light. See nyctitropism. 
Those movements which are brought about by changes 
in the amount of light constitute what are known as the 
"sleep" and "waking" of plants. Betsey, Botany, p. 198. 
There is another class of movements, dependent on the 
action of light. . . . We refer to the movements of leaves 
and cotyledons which when moderately illuminated are 
diaheliotropic, but which change their positions and pre- 
sent their edges to the light when the sun shines brightly 
on them. These movements have sometimes been called 
Darwin, Movement in Plants, p. 445. 
See asleep. 
For David, after he had served his own generation by the 
will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers. 
Acts xiii. 36. 
They went in to his chamber to rayse him, and comming 
to his beds side, found him fast on sleepe. 
Oascoigne, Works, p. 224. 
4. To afford or provide sleeping-accommoda- sleep-at-noon (slep'at-non'), n. A plant, same 
pret. slep, sleep, sleep, pi. slepen), < AS. slSpan, 
slepan, sometimes sldpan (pret. step, pp. slSpen, 
also sometimes weak pret. slsepte, slepte, slepde) 
= OS. slapan = OPnes. slepa = D. slapen = 
MLG. LG. slapen = OHG. sldfan, MHG. slafen, sleep (slep), n._ [< ME. sleep, slepe, slep, sla 
G. schlafen = Goth, slepan (redupl. pret. saislep), sleep, < AS. sleep = OS. slap = OFrieg. step = 
^1....... rt* HffT C* T n !- /\.n _!. \ *-vT-f*-1 ojfrftn \KT fl T n ./.... r\TT/~* -rTT/^t ft=j> 
sleep; cf. MLG. LG. slap (> G. schlapp) = OHG. 
MHG. slaf, G. schlaff, lax, loose, feeble, weak, 
= Dan. slap = Sw. slapp, lax, loose (= AS. as 
if *sleep, an_adj. related to slsepan, sleep, as 
lat, late, to Isstan, let); akin to OBulg. slabu, lax, 
weak; L. labare, totter, sink, be loosened, labi, 
fall, slide: see labent, lapse. No cognate form 
of this verb is found in Scand. (where another 
verb, cognate with the L., Gr., and Skt. words 
for 'sleep,' appears: see sieei-en).'} Ijntrans. 1. 
To take the repose or rest which is afforded by 
a suspension of the voluntary exercise of the 
bodily functions and the natural suspension, 
complete or partial, of consciousness; slumber. 
See the noun. 
Upon that Roche was Jacob depynge whan he saughe 
the Aungeles gon up and doun by a Laddre. 
Mandenille, Travels, p. 86. 
But sleep'st thou now? when from yon hill the foe 
Hangs o'er the fleet, and shades our walls below? 
Pope, Iliad, x. 182. 
2. To fall asleep ; go to sleep ; slumber. 
A fewe sheep spinning on feeld she kepte ; 
She wolde nought been ydel til she slepte. 
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 224. 
Merlin, overtalk'd and overworn, 
Had yielded, told her all the charm, and slept. 
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien. 
3. To lie or remain dormant; remain inactive 
or unused; be latent; be or appear quiet or 
quiescent; repose quietly : as, the sword sleeps 
in the scabbard. Sails are said to deep when so stead- 
ily filled with wind as to be without motion or sound ; and 
a top is said to deep when it spins so rapidly and smoothly 
that the motion cannot be observed. 
Gloton tho with good ale gerte [caused] Hunger to slepe. 
Piers Plowman (U), ix. 326. 
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank ! 
Shak., M. of V., v. 1. 54. 
Once slept the world an egg of stone, 
And pulse, and sound, and light was none. 
Emerson, Woodnotes, ii. 
Seeing the Vicar advance directly towards It, at that ex- 
citing moment when it was beginning to sleep magnifi- 
cently, he shouted, . . . "Stop! don't knock my top down 
now ! " George Eliot, Mr. Gilfll's Love-Story, i. 
4. To rest, as in the grave ; lie buried. 
Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 
1 Thes. iv. 14. 
When I am forgotten, as I shall be, 
And sleep in dull cold marble. 
Shak., Hen. VIII., iii. 2. 433. 
5. To be careless, remiss, inattentive, or un- 
concerned; live thoughtlessly or carelessly; 
take things easy. 
Jfi 
slaap = MLG. LG. slap = OHG. MHG. slaf, G. 
schlaf = Goth, sleps, sleep; from the verb.] 1. 
A state of general marked quiescence of volun- 
tary and conscious (as well as many involun- 
tary and unconscious) functions, alternating 
more or less regularly with periods of activity. 
In human sleep, when it is deep, the body lies quiet, with 
the muscles relaxed, the pulse rate lower than during the 
waking hours, and the respiration less frequent but deep, 
while the person does not react to slight sensory stimuli. 
Intestinal peristalsis is diminished ; secretion is less ac- 
tively carried on ; the pupils are contracted ; and the brain 
is said to be anemic. If the depth of sleep is measured 
by the noise necessary to waken the sleeper, it reaches its 
maximum within the first hour and then diminishes, at flrst 
rapidly, then more slowly. 
Half in a dreme, not fully weel a-wakid, 
The golden sleep me wrapt vndir his wieng. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 52. 
Else could they not catch tender sleep ; which still 
Is shy and fearful, and flies every voice. 
J. Beaumont, Psyche, iv. 41. 
Sleep is a normal condition of the body, occurring peri- 
odically, in which there is a greater or lew degree of un- 
consciousness due to inactivity of the nervous system and 
more especially of the brain and spinal cord. It may be 
regarded as the condition of rest of the nervous system 
during which there is a renewal of the energy that has 
been expended in the hours of wakefulness. 
(sle'per), n. [< ME. sleeper, sleper, 
slennre, sleepere, < AS. sleepere (= D. slaper = 
MLG. slaper = MHG. slafsere, slafer, G. sclutlii- 
fer), < sleepan, sleep: see sleep, v.'j 1. One who 
sleeps: as, a sound steeper. 2f. A drone, or lazy 
person ; a sluggard. 
To ben a verray tleeper, fy, for shame. 
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, L 71. 
3f. A dormant or inoperative thing; something 
that is in abeyance or is latent. 
Let penal laws, if they have been sleepers of long, or if 
they be grown unfit for the present time, be by wise judges 
confined in the execution. Bacon, Judicature (ed. 1887). 
4. An animal that lies dormant in winter or 
summer, as the bear, the marmot, certain mol- 
lusks, etc. See sleepan., 4. 5. Figuratively, 
a dead person. 
Graves at my command 
Have waked their sleepers. 
Shalt., Tempest, v. 1. 49. 
6. pi. Grains of barley that do not vegetate 
in malting. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 7. A 
railway sleeping-car. [Colloq., U. 8.] 8. In 
zodl. : (a) The dormouse, Myoxus avellanarius. 
(6) The sleeper-shark, Somniosus microcepha- 
lus, and some related species, as Ginglymos- 
toma cirratum. (c) A gobioid fish of the genus 
Philypnus, Eleotris, or Dormitator, as D. linea- 
tiis or D. niaculatus. See Eleotridinee. 
2. A period of sleep : as, a short sleep. 
It seems his sleeps were hindered by thy railing. 
Shak., C. of E., v. 1. 71. 
On being suddenly awakened from a sleep, however pro- 
found, we always catch ourselves in the middle of a dream. 
W. James, Prin. of Psychol., I. 201. 
3. Repose; rest; quiet; dormancy; hence, the 
rest of the grave; death. 
Here are no storms, 
No noise, but silence and eternal sleep. 
Shak., Tit. And., 1. 1. 155. 
A calm, unbroken sleep 
Is on the blue waves of the deep. 
Prentice, To an Absent Wife. 
4. ^ __.,, 
found dormancy or torpidity into which various 
animals fall periodically at certain seasons of 
the year. Two kinds of this sleep are distinguished as 
summer and winter deep, technically known as estivation 
and hibernation (see these words). 
5. In bot., nyctitropism, or the sleep-movement 
of plants, a condition brought about in the fo- 
liar or floral organs of certain plants, in which 
Encyc. Brit., xxil. 154. s l ee per 2 (sle'per), n. [E. dial, also slaper; per- 
haps < Norw. sleip, a smooth piece of timber for 
dragging anything over, esp. used of pieces of 
timber employed for the foundation of a road : 
see slope, slab 1 . But the word is generally re- 
garded as a particular use of sleeper 1 ; cf . dor- 
mant, n.~\ 1. A stump of a tree cut off short 
and left in the ground. [Prov. Eng.] 2. A 
beam of wood or the like placed on tne ground 
as a support for something, (a) In carp., a piece 
of timber on which are laid the ground- joists of a floor ; a 
beam on or near the ground, or on a low cross-wall, for 
the support of some superstructure. (6) In milit. enyin., 
one of the small joists of wood which form the foundation 
for a battery platform, (c) A piece of wood, metal, or 
Specifically, in zoiil., the protracted and pro- ot !l er mate " al "P ' 1 which the rails or the rail-chairs of a 
,,H H>o -* I: j: t ^:_ t _ _.uT~L _ railway rest, and to which they are fastened. Wood of 
durable varieties is far more extensively used for this pur- 
pose than any other material ; but stone, toughened glass, 
and iron have also been used, the last to a considerable 
extent. In some instances the sleepers are laid longitu- 
dinally with the rails, and bound together by cross-ties. 
This system is in use on some important European rail- 
ways, and generally on elevated railways and street rail- 
ways, both in the United States and elsewhere ; but the 
most common method is to lay the sleepers at right angles 
they assume at nightfall, or just before posi- * tne ra " 8 ' an( ' 8Dout 2 teet ' rom center to center, except 
*;,,.".<. ,,,,KI..-, ^u~~ ;Li-i~uii .T___ __i_IAT_j when thev sunnort Doints and anele-bars. when thev are 
tions unlike those which they have maintained 
during the day. These movements in the case of leaves 
are usually drooping movements, and are therefore sug- 
gestive of rest, but the direction of movement is different 
when they support points and angle-bars, when they are 
placed 1 foot 6 inches from center to center. They are 
thus made to act both as sleepers and as cross-ties. Such 
sleepers are in the United States also called railway-ties 
or simply ties. See cut under rail chair. 
