Dictionary

slugabed en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈslʌɡəbɛd/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈsləɡ-/ (General-American)
• /ˈslʌɡəˌbɛd/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From slug (“(obsolete) to move slowly or sluggishly; to lie idle”) + abed (“in bed”).

Meanings

1. A lazy person who lies in bed after the usual time for getting up; a sluggard.
   • Get up, get up for shame, the blooming morne / Upon her wings presents the god unshorne. / See how Aurora throwes her faire / Fresh-quilted colours through the aire; / Get up, sweet slug-a-bed, and see / The dew bespangling herbe and tree. 1648, Robert Herrick, “Corinna’s Going a Maying”, in Hesperides, or The VVorks both Humane & Divine, London: Printed for John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, […], →OCLC; republished in The Poetical Works of Robert Herrick, London: William Pickering, […], 1825, →OCLC, pages 91–92:
   • Why Lambe, why Lady, fie you ſluggabed, / Why Loue I ſay, Madam, ſweeteheart, why Bride: / What not a word, you take your penniworths now, / Sleepe for a weeke, […] c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Iuliet. […] (Second Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, […], published 1599, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v]:
   • [O]n rising one morning, I entered the cabin, and found Oriana, as usual, up before me, for I always was a sad slug-a-bed, […] 1855, William Hurton, chapter XXIII, in The Doomed Ship; or, The Wreck of the Arctic Regions, London: Willoughby & Co., […], →OCLC, page 103:
   • Sometimes the dedicated slugabed is rudely awakened by the yelling of builders, the bustle of housemates, the entreaties of toddlers or even dawn's rosy figures coming in at the window. These impediments to sleep must be blocked out if you are to enjoy your morning doze. 2004, Tom Hodgkinson, “8 a.m.: Waking Up is Hard to Do”, in How to Be Idle, London: Hamish Hamilton, →ISBN; How to Be Idle: A Loafer’s Manifesto, paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper Perennial, 2007, →ISBN, page 12:
   • You men have had baths, while Aunt Hilda and I haven't had a chance to get clean for fear of waking you slugabeds. 1980 August, Robert A[nson] Heinlein, “‘—A Wedding Ring is Not a Ring in My Nose—’”, in The Number of the Beast, New York, N.Y.: Fawcett Columbine, →ISBN; republished as The Number of the Beast (Fawcett Gold Medal Book), New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, July 1982, →ISBN, page 41:
   • "Ah, in my young days," continued the old woman, "people woren't slugabeds; out airly, home late - that was the way wid thim." 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 380:

Forms

Synonyms

truant · slob · loafer · slugabug · lounge lizard · slugabed · tarrier · sluggabed · lounger · late riser · idler · footler · slow belly · do-naught · dogfucker · goof-off · ne'er-do-well · sluggard · slacker · dawdler · deadbeat · layabout · do-nothing · sofa spud · lie-abed · morepork · laggard · shirker · flaneur · get-nothing · wasteman · lazy louse · wastrel · lazybones · lazy ass · good-for-nothing · couch potato · ragabash · poop · slug-a-bed · idleton · faineant · lollygagger · bum · dosser · skiver · goldbricker · waster · lidderon · lallygag · loiter-sack · slug

Translations (8)

de Spätaufsteherin (lazy person who lies in bed after the usual time for getting up) · fr dormeuse (lazy person who lies in bed after the usual time for getting up) · de Langschläferin (lazy person who lies in bed after the usual time for getting up) · de Langschläfer (lazy person who lies in bed after the usual time for getting up) · it dormiglione (lazy person who lies in bed after the usual time for getting up) · de Spätaufsteher (lazy person who lies in bed after the usual time for getting up) · fr dormeur (lazy person who lies in bed after the usual time for getting up) · fr lève-tard (lazy person who lies in bed after the usual time for getting up)