Link Centre Dictionary

sleeper

slee·per

UK/ˈsliːpə(ɹ)/ US/ˈslipɜr/ fairly common slang uk

noun

1.

a rester who is sleeping

Synonyms
2.
3.

an unexpected achiever of success

  • “the winner was a true sleeper--no one expected him to get it”
4.

one of the cross braces that support the rails on a railway track

  • “the British call a railroad tie a sleeper”
Synonyms
5.

a passenger car that has berths for sleeping

Synonyms
6.

a piece of furniture that can be opened up into a bed

7.

tropical fish that resembles a goby and rests quietly on the bottom in shallow water

Synonyms
8.

an unexpected hit

  • “that movie was the sleeper of the summer”

Origin

Compare Norwegian sleip (“a sleeper (a timber); as adjective, slippery, smooth”). See slape.

Phrases

  • bedside sleeper
  • cold sleeper
  • dark sleeper
  • fat sleeper
  • hot sleeper
  • railway sleeper
  • rough sleeper
  • short sleeper

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.