forty winks en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˌfɔɹti ˈwɪŋks/ (General-American)
- /ˌfɔːti ˈwɪŋks/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Australia) audio
- [-ɾi-] (General-American)
- (General-American) audio
Etymology
From forty + winks, possibly referring to a nap supposedly lasting as long as it takes a person to wink (i.e., blink) forty times.
Meanings
-
(idiomatic, informal, plural, plural-only) A short sleep, especially when taken during the day; a nap.
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.
2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (science fiction), Redwood City, Calif.: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, P.C., scene: Eden Prime:John hitches himself in his oaken settle, and yawns awake from the "forty winks" in which he has indulged after his day's work: […]
1834 January, Dashwood [pseudonym], “New Year’s Eve”, in The Sporting Magazine, volume VIII (2nd Series), number XLV, [London]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 255:Near-synonyms: shut-eye, twenty winks; see also Thesaurus:shut-eye
As you’re so tired, why not try to catch forty winks before you leave?
[T]hey cuddled in comfortably for forty winks before the anthem [during a church service].
1897, Hall Caine, chapter XIII, in The Christian: A Story, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, 1st book (The Outer World), page 63:Mr Bloom in the meanwhile kept dodging about in the vicinity of the cobblestones near the brazier of coke in front of the corporation watchman's sentrybox, 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.
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 16: Eumaeus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 574:Is it not better Economy of Time, to go to sleep for half an hour,—than to go on noodling all day in a nerveless and semi-superannuated state— […] for any purpose requiring the Energy of either the Body, or the Mind. "A Forty Winks Nap," in a horizontal posture, is the best preparative for any extraordinary exertion of either.
1821, [William Kitchiner], “Sleep”, in The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life, by Food, Clothes, Air, Exercise, Wine, Sleep, &c. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Hurst, Robinson, and Co.; Edinburgh: A[rchibald] Constable and Co., →OCLC, page 69:
Synonyms
doss · shut-eye · rest · shut-eye · twenty winks · cark · sleep
Translations (13)
fi nokoset (short sleep — see also nap) · de eine Mütze Schlaf (voll) (short sleep — see also nap) · la intervigilium (short sleep — see also nap) · gl soneca (short sleep — see also nap) · gd norrag (short sleep — see also nap) · hu szundikálás (short sleep — see also nap) · cmn 打盹兒 /打盹儿 (short sleep — see also nap) · gd dùsal (short sleep — see also nap) · hu szundítás (short sleep — see also nap) · hu szundi (short sleep — see also nap) · sv tupplur (short sleep — see also nap) · el σαράντα κλείνει το μάτι (short sleep — see also nap) · hu szunyókálás (short sleep — see also nap)