Dictionary

slumbery en · ADJ

Etymology

From Middle English slumbry, slombry, slomry, equivalent to slumber + -y. Cognate with Middle Dutch slumerich (“slumbery”).

Meanings

1. Inclined to sleep; sleepy or sleeping; (by extension) quiet and slow-paced.
   • In the summer of 1981, shortly before the filming of A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Mia fell in love with a sixty-acre farm, Frog Hollow, on the outskirts of Bridgewater, Connecticut, a slumbery country town of 1,600, boasting a post office, a general store, and a gas station, as well as a bank and library. 2014, Marion Meade, The Unruly Life of Woody Allen:
   • There are also the calamitous events of bushfires all over the continent, and the title of my first poetry collection, Crackle at Midnight, reflects this anxiety as it speaks to the jolting disruption of a raging fire that invades a slumbery community in the heart of rural Malawi, leaving its inhabitants covered in a green pall of toxic haze. 2021, Dike Okoro, Lupenga Mphande: Eco-Critical Poet and Political Activist, page 186:
   • Only the upper part of her body is awake, and even that droops with a slumbery weakness. 1820, The London Magazine, volume 1, page 405:
   • “Yes, miss. He found you outside on the portico. You were wet and cold and all slumbery.” “Slumbery?” Susannah scrunched her nose at the sound of the word. “Asleep, miss. He couldn't wake you.” Colleen took Susannah's hand. 2014, Suzanne Hoos, Only Time Will Tell:

Forms

Synonyms

sleepy · slumberous