sleepy

From Middle English slepy, from Old English *slǣpiġ (attested in unslǣpiġ (“not sleepy, sleepless”)), from Proto-West Germanic *slāpag (“sleepy”), equivalent to sleep +‎ -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian släipich (“sleepy”), West Frisian sliepich (“sleepy”), Middle Dutch slapig, slêpig, slapich (“sleepy”), Middle Low German slâpich, Middle High German slāfec (> archaic German schlafig (“sleepy”)).

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• IPA^(key): /ˈsliːpi/
• Rhymes: -iːpi

sleepy (comparative sleepier, superlative sleepiest)

1. Tired; feeling the need for sleep.

   Synonyms: tired; see also Thesaurus:sleepy

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Cymon and Iphigenia, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     She wak'd her sleepy crew.

2. Suggesting tiredness.
   • 1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus:

     At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. Disgusted with himself at such cowardice, he spat a needle from his mouth, stepped back from the tree and listened. There were no sounds of any movement upstairs: no shouts, no sleepy grumbles, only a gentle tinkle from the decorations as the tree had recovered from the collision.

3. Tending to induce sleep.

   Synonym: soporific

   a sleepy drink or potion

   • 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Edward the Second, […]”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 49, page 561, column 1:

     [T]he yong L. Roger Mortimer, […] hauing corrupted his Keepers, or (as ſome others vvrite) hauing potioned them vvith a ſleepy drinke, eſcaped out of the Tovver of London, getting ouer clearely vvithout any empeachment into France.

4. (figurative) Dull; lazy.

   Synonyms: heavy, sluggish

   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:

     'Tis not sleepy business;
     But must be looked to speedily and strongly.

5. (figurative) Quiet; without bustle or activity.

   a sleepy English village

   • 2021 August 30, “Armed robbers take hostages in deadly bank raids in Brazil city”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Experts believe a pandemic welfare programme for poorer Brazilians has encouraged robbers to plan bold raids in sleepy regional cities where bank branches are storing more cash.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

   • 2022 September 23, Pjotr Sauer, Dan Sabbagh, “Border queues build as people flee Russia to escape Putin’s call-up”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Usually sleepy border crossings into Kazakhstan and Mongolia have also been overwhelmed by the sudden influx of Russians looking for a way out.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

   • 2023 March 8, Paul Salveson, “Fond farewells to two final trains...”, in Rail, number 978, page 54:

     Despite Horwich's international fame as a centre of railway engineering, Horwich station itself was usually quite a sleepy place.

• sleeby (Internet slang)

sleepy (countable and uncountable, plural sleepies)

1. (informal, uncountable or in the plural) The gum that builds up in the eye; sleep, gound.

   Synonym: (which see for more) sleep

   • 1964, Ken Kesey, Sometimes a Great Notion:

     "Did he always leave the sleepy in his eyes?" "Never removed it; let it build up in the comers of his eyes over the weeks until it was heavy enough to fall […]

   • 1991, Martin Amis, London Fields:

     But the nightdress was heavy, the sleepy in her eyes was heavy, her hair (she made a mustache of one of its locks) was heavy and smelled of cigarettes […]

2. (Australia) Shingleback.

• Epleys