land of Nod en · PROPN
Pronunciation
- /ˈlænd əv ˈnɒd/ (UK)
- /ˈlænd əv ˈnɑd/ (US)
Etymology
From Genesis 4:16, first used by Jonathan Swift as a play on words for the modern-day meaning. Compare nod off.
Meanings
-
(poetic) The state of sleep, or an imaginary place that one inhabits when asleep.
[…] but she was too tired for anything under heaven to disturb her, and after a moment of wakeful dreaming she was in the land of Nod!
1892, Wenona Gilman [pseudonym; Florence Blackburn White Schoeffel], chapter XXX, in Leonie, The Typewriter, New York: Norman L. Munro:Neverout. Why, miss, if you fall asleep, somebody may get a pair of gloves. / Col. I'm going to the land of Nod.
1731 (date written), Simon Wagstaff [pseudonym; Jonathan Swift], “Dialogue III”, in A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, […], London: […] B[enjamin] Motte […], published 1738, →OCLC, page 214:From breakfast on through all the day / At home among my friends I stay; / But every night I go abroad / Afar into the land of Nod.
1885, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Land of Nod”, in A Child's Garden of Verses:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| the land of Nod | canonical | lexicographic |
Translations (4)
fi unten maa (Translations) · pl objęcia Morfeusza (Translations) · fr pays des rêves (Translations) · fi nukkumatin maa (Translations)