sleeper
pronunciation
How to pronounce sleeper in British English:
UK [ˈsli:pə(r)]
How to pronounce sleeper in American English:
US [ˈslipɚ]
-
- Noun:
- a rester who is sleeping
- a spy or saboteur or terrorist planted in an enemy country who lives there as a law-abiding citizen until activated by a prearranged signal
- an unexpected achiever of success
- one of the cross braces that support the rails on a railway track
- a passenger car that has berths for sleeping
- a piece of furniture that can be opened up into a bed
- tropical fish that resembles a goby and rests quietly on the bottom in shallow water
- an unexpected hit
Word Origin
- sleeper (n.)
- Old English slæpere "one who sleeps, one who is inclined to sleep much," agent noun from sleep (v.). Meaning "strong horizontal beam" is from c. 1600. Meaning "dormant or inoperative thing" is from 1620s. Meaning "railroad sleeping car" is from 1875. Sense of "something whose importance proves to be greater than expected" first attested 1892, originally in American English sports jargon, probably from earlier (1856) gambling slang sense of "unexpected winning card." Meaning "spy, enemy agent, terrorist etc. who remains undercover for a long time before attempting his purpose" first attested 1955, originally in reference to communist agents in the West.
Example
- 1. Best of british sleeper trains ......
- 2. In the sleeper the conductor will wake you up early enough .
- 3. There are all kinds of everyday situations where the sleeper effect occurs .
- 4. I had paid for an upper-class sleeper with a $ 50 bill that the conductor did not put in the till but folded into his shirt pocket .
- 5. On the sleeper train no. 3 of k282 from shanghai to chengdu , the first 4 sleeper section only have to passengers - our parents .