Dictionary

sleepwaker en · NOUN

Pronunciation

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Etymology

From sleep + waker.

Meanings

1. (archaic) One in a state of magnetic or mesmeric sleep; someone in a hypnotic trance.
   • A lady present when Mademoiselle M——had been mesmerized by me, went up to the sleepwaker and spoke to her for some time. 1877, Clairvoyancy, Mind-reading, Psychomancy, and Soul-charming, page 39:
   • I once asked a sleepwaker whether she could perceive any analogy between animal and mineral magnetism, when she replied, ' There is an analogy — but the latter is of a coarser nature.' 1842 March, Chauncy Hare Townshend, “Facts in Mesmerism, or Animal Magnetism”, in The New Jerusalem Magazine, volume 15, number 175, page 269:
   • Another sleepwaker informed her magnetiser that if he would breathe upon his hand, and then lay it on her forehead, his power would be increased. 1845 March 29, Charles Radclyffe Hall, “On the Rise, Progress, and Mysteries of Mesmerism”, in The Lancet, volume 1, page 234:
2. (obsolete, rare) A sleepwalker; one who walks in their sleep.
   • In addition, about 4 million Americans are occasional or habitual sleepwakers. 1965, Science Digest, volume 58, page 37:
   • He begins to speak, arises from his bed, walks about, and now becomes a sleepwaker. 1860, Karl Freiherr von Reichenbach, Somnambulism and Cramp, page 238:
   • As I have before said, he had been, in shildhood, a natural sleepwaker; and I now add , on the testimony of his father, that he would sometimes rise in the night, take out his flute, ( an instru- ment which he was studying professionally,) place music before him, and play from notes, continuing to turn over the leaves of the music-book correctly, although his eyes were closely shut. 1840, Chauncy Hare Townshend, Facts in Mesmerism, page 236:

Forms

Relateds

sleepwalker