daydreamingn.
/ˈdeɪdriːmɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈdeɪˌdrimɪŋ/ Indulgence in daydreams. See daydream n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > daydream or reverie > [noun] > daydreaming
dreaminga1400
musardryc1450
musardy1481
wool-gathering1608
woolling1705
castle-building1740
aerial architecture1750
Alnascharism1812
daydreaming1816
pipe dreaming1902
1816 G. E. Male Epitome Juridical or Forensic Med. 159 Many, particularly young persons,..stray in the regions of fancy, called castle-building, or daydreaming.
1819 W. Irving Sketch Bk. i. 13 To one given to day dreaming, and fond of losing himself in reveries, a sea voyage is full of subjects for meditation.
1869 E. C. Booth Another Eng. 21 He threw himself on his stretcher (for so the bedstead of the bush is called), and gave himself up to a few minutes' day-dreaming.
1934 Mod. Psychologist June 14/2 There are several forms of daydreaming; castle-building in the air is one form; absent-mindedness is another.
1950 A. Huxley Let. 3 Feb. (1969) 617 No longer free to indulge in day-dreaming and wishful thinking.
2004 E. Conlon Blue Blood xii. 458 Back at the grave, I found my keys and remembered to say a prayer,..before I took to daydreaming again.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
daydreamingadj.
/ˈdeɪdriːmɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈdeɪˌdrimɪŋ/ Given to daydreams; disposed to indulge in daydreams. Also: that is daydreaming; in the midst of a daydream; distracted, self-absorbed.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > daydream or reverie > [adjective]
dreaminga1500
castle-building1740
daydreaming1814
daydreamyc1816
wool-gathering1850
head-in-air1880
Walter Mittyish1954
Mittyish1956
Mittyesque1958
Mitty-like1961
1814 T. Ashe Let. 1 May in Mem. & Confessions (1815) III. 189 I pursued..the profession of arms, till a variety of misfortunes, and an absurd day-dreaming cast of mind, obstructed my way to glory.
1845 T. Carlyle in O. Cromwell Lett. & Speeches II. 259 Threatening to go a strange course, those Antinomian, Levelling, day-dreaming Delusionists of ours!
1869 W. G. T. Shedd Homiletics & Pastoral Theol. 285 How much more favourable to the growth of piety is such a studious life than an indolent and day-dreaming one!
1906 Daily Chron. 3 Aug. 8/5 Day-dreaming children can pass into this fairy world at will.
1990 G. Plimpton Best of Plimpton i. 3 As with most daydreaming kids, it wasn't so much curiosity as a surety that I would make it to some such pinnacle myself.
2004 D. Smiedt Are we there Yet? (2007) xii. 228 Leopards still pad their way through the soft undergrowth and would have no trouble sneaking up on a daydreaming tourist.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1816adj.1814