† dreamn.¹

Forms: Old English dram (transmission error), Old English drim (rare), Old English–early Middle English dream, Old English (rare)–Middle English drem, late Old English–early Middle English dræm, early Middle English dreem, early Middle English dreim, Middle English dreme.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.

Etymology: Cognate with Old Saxon drōm mirth, noise, minstrelsy; further etymology uncertain and disputed (see note). For the possibility that this is the same word as dream n.² compare the discussion at that entry.The underlying West Germanic base was perhaps originally imitative; compare (with similar consonant patterns) the words discussed at drum n.¹ A relationship has also been suggested with either ancient Greek θρῦλος noise as of many voices, murmur, or θρεῖσθαι to cry aloud, shriek (or both), but these are themselves subject to debate and perhaps imitative in origin. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the word is a derivative (with nasal suffix) of the same Germanic base as dree v., with original meaning ‘to follow or serve (as part of a retinue)’, reflected by Old English drēogan to do, perform, carry out, to suffer, Gothic driugan to carry out (a military campaign), and (with different suffix) Old English dryht retinue, army (see dright n.¹); the semantic link in this case would be the social activities of a Germanic leader's retinue.

Obsolete.

1. Joy, pleasure, gladness; mirth, rejoicing, jubilation; an instance of this. See also glee-dream n. at glee n. Compounds 3, man-dream n. at man n.¹ Compounds 2a.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > pleasure > joy, gladness, or delight > [noun]

merrinesseOE

gladnessc900

mirtheOE

playeOE

dreamOE

gladshipc975

lissOE

willOE

hightOE

blithenessc1000

gladc1000

winOE

blissc1175

delices?c1225

delight?c1225

joy?c1225

comfortc1230

listc1275

gladhead1303

daintyc1325

fainnessc1340

lightnessa1350

delectationc1384

delightingc1390

comfortationa1400

fainheada1400

blithec1400

fainc1400

delicacyc1405

gladsomeness1413

reveriea1425

joyousitiea1450

joyfulnessc1485

jucundity1536

joyousness1549

joc1560

delightfulness1565

jouissance1579

joyance1590

levitya1631

revelling1826

chuckle1837

joyancy1849

a song in one's heart1862

delightsomeness1866

the mind > emotion > pleasure > merriment > [noun]

dreamOE

man-dreamOE

gleea1200

galec1200

bauderyc1386

oliprancec1390

cheera1393

gaynessc1400

disportc1405

joyousitiea1450

festivitya1500

lakea1500

gaiety1573

merriment1574

jucundity1575

galliardise?1577

jouissance1579

merrymake1579

jolliment1590

mirth1591

jollyhead1596

spleen1598

jocantry16..

geniality1609

jovialty1621

jocundry1637

gaietry1650

sport1671

fun1726

galliardism1745

gig1777

merrymaking1779

hilarity1834

rollick1852

OE Fortunes of Men 79 Sum sceal on heape hæleþum cweman, blissian æt beore bencsittendum; þær biþ drincendra dream se micla.

OE Death of Edgar (Parker) 1 Her geendode eorðan dreamas Eadgar, Engla cyning, ceas him oðer leoht.

OE Christ & Satan 313 Þær heo mid wuldorcyninge wunian moton awa to aldre, agan dreama dream mid drihtne gode.

OE Will of Wulfric (Sawyer 1536) in P. H. Sawyer Charters of Burton Abbey (1979) 55 God ælmihtig hine awende of eallum godes dreame.., se ðe þis awende.

c1175 ( Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 202 Swa wace..beoð eorðlice dreames & swa wace beoð eahtæ mid monnum.

c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (Royal) (1981) 847 Vre lauerd him seolf com wið engles..wið swuch dream ant drihtfare as drihtin ah to cumene.

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 7129 Heo æten heo drunken dræm [c1300 Otho blisse] wes i burhȝen.

2. The sound of a musical instrument or singing voice; music, minstrelsy, melody; singing, a song. Also: noise, din; clamour, lamentation; voice, speech. See also bell-dream n. at bell n.¹ Compounds 2, orgledream n. at orgle n. Compounds.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > [noun]

gleec897

mirtheOE

dreamOE

soundc1330

entunec1369

musica1382

noisec1390

sonnetc1400

cant1704

tonation1728

OE Phoenix 138 Ne magon þam breahtme byman ne hornas, ne hearpan hlyn.., ne ænig þara dreama þe dryhten gescop gumum to gliwe in þas geomran woruld.

OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) v. 51 He gehyrde micele stemne on heofonum, swylce bymena dream.

OE Rule St. Benet (Corpus Cambr.) xviii. 43 Se æfensang sy dæghwamlice gehendod mid iiii sealma dreame [L. quatuor psalmorum modulatione].

c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 923 Þe belle dræm bitacneþþ ȝuw Þatt dræm þatt ȝuw birrþ herenn.

a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 115 (MED) Þe bemene drem þe þe engles blewen.

c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (Bodl.) (1981) l. 546 Feire uleð þi muð..ah ich drede þet tis dream me dreaie towart deaðe, as deð meareminnes.

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 158 He schal adomesdei grimliche abreiden wið þe dredfule dream of þe engles bemen.

c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 314 Ich singe..Mid fulle dreme & lude stefne.

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 507 Muchel folkes dream.

c1300 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Cambr.) (1966) l. 37 To hire louerd heo sede wiþ stille dreme.

c1330 (?c1300) Bevis of Hampton (Auch.) 1339 (MED) Saber wep and made drem, For he was þe childes em.

a1350 in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 51 Þou make me here þi suete dreem.

c1450 in K. Sisam 14th Cent. Verse & Prose (1933) 170 (MED) Stark strokes þei stryken on a stelyd stokke..Lus, bus! las, das! rowtyn be rowe: Swech dolful a dreme, þe deuyl it todryue!

a1500 (c1400) St. Erkenwald (1977) l. 191 Wyt a drery dreme he dryues owte wordes.

c1600 (c1350) Alisaunder (Greaves) (1929) l. 781 Hee chases by enchauntement þe chamber within And with a dragones drem dreew too þe bedde.

3. Frenzy, delirium. Also: demonic possession. Only in wood dream. Cf. widden-dream n. rare.Only in Old English.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > delirium or raving

wood dreameOE

mazec1300

paraphrenesisa1398

ravinga1398

deliramentc1450

idleness1535

delirium1563

randing1583

calenture1593

deliration1598

taveringa1599

ravery1599

delirement1613

debacchation1633

delirancy1645

deliry1657

deliriousness1671

paraphrenitis1683

paraphrosyne1684

deliracy1689

delirousness1694

paracope1749

paraphora1749

wandering1836

paralerema1848

paraleresis1857

paraphronesis1857

rambling1897

the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > frenzy or raging

wood dreameOE

frenzyc1340

furor1477

rammistnessc1485

wildnessc1540

willnessc1540

frenzicness1547

frenziness1594

phrenition1642

amok1665

nympholepsy1776

nympholepsia1885

the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > evil spirit or demon > [noun] > familiar or possessing spirit > possession by

wood dreameOE

demoniacal possession1601

possession1601

obsession1607

pythonism1654

demoniac possession1698

endiablementa1734

endemoniasm1751

demon possession1838

demonic possession1853

spirit possession1854

bedevilment1861

diabolepsy1886

eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) iii. vi. 60 Sume Romana wif on swelcum scinlace wurdon, & on swelcum wodan dreame, þæt hie woldon ælcne mon, ge wif ge wæpned, þara þe hie mehton, mid atre acwellan.

OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xxxv. 479 Astriges se indisca cyning þe Bartholomeum ofsloh awedde, & on þam wodan dreame gewat.

OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) iii. 27 Sum wif wæs ðe com to Criste, and bæd for hire dehter þe læg on wodum dreame.

Compounds

dreamcraft n. music.

ΚΠ

OE Old Eng. Martyrol. (Corpus Cambr. 196) 28 Nov. 258 Astronomia, þæt ys tungla gang, and geometrica, þæt ys eorðgemet, and musica, þæt ys dreamcræft.

lOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Bodl.) (2009) I. xvi. 275 Swa gedeð eac se dreamcræft ðæt se mon bið dreamere and se læcecræft þæt he bið læce, and seo racu deð þæt he bið reccere.

dream-thirl n. [ < dream n.¹ + thirl n.¹; compare later dream-hole n.] the ear.

ΚΠ

c1225 (?OE) Soul's Addr. to Body (Worcester) (Fragm. E) l. 30 Ne mostes þu iheren þeo holie dræmes, þeo bellen rungen, [þet u]nker becnunge wæs..ac nu beoþ fordutte þine dreamþurles, ne ihereþ heo [nefr]e more none herunge of þe.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

dreamn.²adj.

Brit.

/driːm/, U.S.

/drim/

Forms: Middle English dremmes (plural), Middle English–1500s dreem, Middle English–1500s dreeme, Middle English–1500s drem, Middle English–1600s dreame, Middle English–1700s dreme, 1500s– dream; Scottish pre-1700 dramme, pre-1700 dreame, pre-1700 dreim, pre-1700 dreime, pre-1700 dreme, pre-1700 dreym, pre-1700 dreyme, pre-1700 1700s– dream, pre-1700 1800s– drame, 1900s– draem; also Irish English 1800s– drame.

Origin: Of uncertain origin. Either (i) a word inherited from Germanic. Or (ii) a borrowing from early Scandinavian.

Etymology: Apparently either (i) the reflex of an unattested Old English noun cognate with Old Frisian drām, Middle Dutch droom (Dutch droom), Old Saxon drōm (Middle Low German drōm), Old High German troum (Middle High German troum, German Traum), Old Icelandic draumr, Old Swedish drömber (Swedish dröm), Old Danish, Danish drøm, all in sense ‘dream’; further etymology uncertain and disputed (see note), or (ii) < early Scandinavian (compare the Scandinavian forms listed above, and see note).Possible etymologies. It is unclear whether this is the same word as dream n.¹ If it is the same, the underlying semantic development (in early Germanic) may have led from a sense ‘joy, lively behaviour’ (attested only in Old English and Old Saxon: see dream n.¹) via a notion of ‘ecstasy’ (perhaps compare dream n.¹ 3) to ‘images seen in one's sleep’ (attested in most Germanic languages, including Old Saxon, but not Old English). In this case the sense ‘images seen in one's sleep’ in Middle English is either the result of semantic influence from early Scandinavian or perhaps a survival of a sense that happens not to be recorded in Old English (in which case probably reinforced by association with the early Scandinavian word). Compare the discussion by B. von Lindheim in Rev. Eng. Stud. 25 (1949) 193–209. If it is not the same word as dream n.¹, this word and its Germanic cognates are perhaps derived (with a nasal suffix) < the same Germanic base as Old High German triogan to deceive (Middle High German triegen , German trügen ) and Old Icelandic draugr ghost, apparition, itself < the same Indo-European base as Sanskrit druh , Avestan druj- deceit. In this case, the English word either already existed in Old English, but remained unattested, or it may be a borrowing from early Scandinavian (compare the surviving Scandinavian forms listed above), with substitution of the vowel by analogy with similar Middle English words that were recognized as being cognate with their early Scandinavian counterparts (e.g. stream n., seam n.¹, team n.). Earlier synonyms. In Old English and early Middle English the usual word for ‘dream’ is swefn sweven n.; in Old English also sometimes gesihð i-sight n. or mǣting meting n.¹ Pronunciation history. In early modern English and Older Scots sometimes recorded as rhyming with shame, hame, etc.; compare discussion in E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500–1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II. §115 and A. J. Aitken & C. Macafee Older Sc. Vowels (2002) §20.8.3. This pronunciation is still attested in regional use in Scotland (chiefly east central and in the Northern Isles) and Ireland.

A. n.²

a. A series of images, thoughts, and emotions, often with a story-like quality, generated by mental activity during sleep; the state in which this occurs. Also: a prophetic or supernatural vision experienced when either awake or asleep. lucid, opium, waking, wet dream; sweet dreams, etc.: see the first element. See also wake and dream at wake n.¹ 1a, see v. 11c.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun]

swevenc897

metingOE

showing?c1225

sweveningc1275

dreamc1300

metels1340

dremels1362

night visiona1382

metreda1393

dreaminga1400

somniation1598

c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) l. 1284 (MED) Of his slep a-non he brayd, And seide..‘A selkuth drem dremede me nou.’

a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 1179 On dreme him cam tiding.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 4605 Bath þi drems ar als an.

c1400 (?c1380) Pearl l. 790 (MED) Þe Lambez vyuez in blysse we bene..On þe hyl of Syon..Þe apostel hem segh in gostly drem Arayed to þe weddyng.

a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Gen. xli. 22 Y seiȝ a dreem [E.V. sweuen; L. somnium].

?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 22 He interpretid þe kynges dremes.

1474 W. Caxton tr. Game & Playe of Chesse (1883) i. i. 10 They coude not telle hym his dreme that he had dremed.

1551 W. Turner New Herball 178 Beanes..are harde of digestion, and make troblesum dreames.

1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie Pref. 3 We haue not..permitted things to passe away as in a dreame.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iv. i. 157 We are such stuffe As dreames are made on.

1678 N. Wanley Wonders Little World vi. xxvii. §4. 611/2 I lay still..casting and discoursing with my self, whether I waked or was in a dream.

1750 Bible (Challoner) Dan. ii. 3 I saw a dream: and being troubled in mind I know not what I saw.

1752 S. Johnson Rambler No. 204. ⁋12 Striving, as is usual in dreams, without ability to move.

1842 Ld. Tennyson Locksley Hall in Poems (new ed.) II. 100 Like a dog, he hunts in dreams.

1877 A. B. Edwards Thousand Miles up Nile xxi. 649 It is like a feverish sleep, troubled by gruesome dreams.

1904 Psychol. Bull. 1 357 The theory of Freud, that dreams are disguised realizations of repressed desires.

1963 S. Pines tr. M. Maimonides Guide of Perplexed II. ii. iii. 68 A prophet can only hear in a dream of prophecy that God has spoken to him.

2007 New Yorker 21 May 31/3 Last night, I had a dream that there was a snow snake coming down from a snow mountain to kill me.

b. A person seen in a dream or vision; an apparition. Frequently coloured by sense A. 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > thing seen > optical illusion > [noun] > an optical illusion > vision or apparition > object seen in

dream1562

1562 A. Brooke tr. M. Bandello Tragicall Hist. Romeus & Iuliet f. 76 Much amasde to see in tombe so great a light, She wist not if she saw a dreame, or sprite that walkd by night.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 292 When suddenly stood at my Head a dream .

1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess vii. 149 If you be, what I think you, some sweet dream.

1987 W. McPherson Sargasso Sea (1988) iii. 148 I decided to see if you were real and not just a dream. I had to come back to bed to make sure.

2011 K. Irons Seaborne xiii. 152 ‘Are you real?’ she whispered. ‘Or are you a dream?’

2. Something imagined or invented; a false idea or belief; an illusion, a delusion; (in early use also) †a sham, a pretence (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > deceptive fancy or illusion > [noun]

fantasyc1325

fairyc1330

illusionc1374

mazec1390

phantasma1398

dream1489

phantom1557

seeming1576

phantasma1598

fancy1609

hallucinationa1652

phantastry1656

phasm1659

fata Morgana1818

dreamland1832

stardust1906

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > deception by illusion, delusion > [noun] > condition of being deluded

delusionc1420

dream1489

illusion1571

hallucinationa1652

phantastry1656

1489 W. Caxton tr. C. de Pisan Bk. Fayttes of Armes i. xvii. sig. Di^v Where this manere of dooyng [sc. building a bridge] shuld seme..harde of dooyng to them that haue not lerned the way therof, that myght say that of suche thingis it is but a dreme [Fr. songe].

1528 W. Tyndale That Fayth Mother of All Good Workes f. ix^v Where right faith ys, there bringeth she forth good workes, yf ther folowe not good workes, it is no doute but a dreame & an opinion or fained faith.

1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius i. f. 8^v If you had any sparcle of shame or honesty, you would neuer haue defiled your paper with so manifest a lye... Those be yours Osorius your owne drousie dreames.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) iv. ii. 34 To liue But in a Dreame of Friendship.

1669 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. I i. xii. 76 This persuasion, of the Egyptian Tongue..being the old Matrice of the Greek, is but a dream of Kirchers.

1706 D. Defoe Jure Divino iv. 6 This Passive Sham..The Dream of Contradictive Loyalty, Which makes Men suffer first, and then obey.

1798 J. Ferriar Illustr. Sterne ii. 24 The dreams of Rabelais's commentators have indeed discovered a very different intention.

1830 Friend 25 Dec. 81/3 The idea of a muscular, nervous substance is a bold one... Physiologists will show me that it is only a dream of my imagination.

1916 Brick & Clay Rec. 21 Nov. 889/1 The winter-building dull season was not real but a dream.

2008 S. Trimble Bargaining for Eden i. 46 The past is a dream: some of us revel in it, some of us manipulate it. Either way, the truth slips away, to be firmly replaced by myth.

a. A vision or hope for the future; (in early use chiefly) a vain hope or idle fantasy; (now also) an ideal, goal, ambition, or aspiration. In early use frequently coloured by sense A. 2.See also daydream n., pipe dream n.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > hope > aspiration, ambition > [noun] > instance of

pretensionc1456

dream1922

1555 R. Eden in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde iii. ix. f. 137 (note) They burie theyr iewels with them. A dreame of an other lyfe after this.

1612 J. Floyd Ouerthrow Protestants Pulpit-Babels i. i. 69 He doth..prophesy of thinges to come; vttering..the dreames and wishes of his vncharitable hart.

1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World vi. 159 We might have been masters not only of those Mines..but of all the Coast as high as Quito... But these may seem to the Reader but Golden Dreams.

a1711 R. Bulstrode Misc. Ess. (1715) 134 Utopical Perfection is only an idle Dream of the Donatists.

1786 County Mag. Nov. 173/1 Prediluvians..Deem'd his [sc. Noah's] nautical scheme a fantastical dream.

1850 R. W. Emerson Uses of Great Men in Representative Men i. 1 The search after the great is the dream of youth.

1877 W. W. Fowler Frontier Women (1879) ii. 39 She..cherished no golden dreams of earthly happiness to be realized in that far-off western clime.

1922 London Mercury July 277 He saw and thought big, and expressed his dreams in grandiose Shakespearean productions.

1963 M. L. King I have Dream in J. M. Washington Test. Hope (1991) ii. 219 I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

1991 Jrnl. Reg. (Medina, N.Y.) 18 Feb. d2/1 For many families, especially those in the lower income brackets, that goal has remained just a dream.

2010 Asian Woman No. 43. 15/2 Get that job, get that man (or woman), achieve that dream.

b. spec. With the. A national aspiration or ambition; (now esp.) a way of life considered to be ideal by a particular nation or (in extended use) other group of people (usually specified in a modifying adjective). See also American dream n. at American n. and adj. Compounds 3a.

ΚΠ

1743 Country Jrnl. 30 July How much Blood and Treasure has the French Dream of Universal Monarchy cost not only that Nation but all Europe?

1824 European Mag. May 407/2 The imperial dream of power encouraged every thing that ruined the Roman Empire, her triumphs, and her characteristics.

1904 Collier's 7 May 7/3 The old American dream of a magnificent continental sovereignty and hemispheric hegemony.

1931 Notes & Queries 160 107/1 If, in the course of centuries, the Russian dream comes true [etc.].

1937 L. Bromfield Rains Came i. xxxiii. 144 A ruler who would cherish the dream and carry it a little way farther along the way to fulfilment.

1971 Bulletin (Sydney) 9 Oct. 65/1 Building a weekender for holidays..was an integral part of the Australian dream, like owning a Holden, a Victa lawnmower, and one's own home.

1997 M. Collin & J. Godfrey Altered State vi. 187 Sections of a downcast and disillusioned travelling community started to seek oblivion..as the hippie dream turned sour.

2011 Atlantic Dec. 17/2 Her clients have been going—in pursuit of what might be called the Chinese Dream.

c. With preceding genitive: someone or something, esp. a situation, considered to be ideal by a particular type of person.

ΚΠ

1891 Cent. Mag. Aug. 498/2 What is he like? What is any young girl's dream like?

1897 R. S. Scott tr. H. de Balzac Daughter of Eve v. 55 The bedroom, in violet, was a young ballet-girl's dream.

1928 People's Home Jrnl. Nov. 3/2 The ultimate facts..will justify the prophet's dream of a warless world.

1932 Punch 23 Nov. 578/3 The author's dream, of course, is to sit back and talk beautiful prose to a beautiful typist with a beautiful cigar going.

1936 M. Mitchell Gone with the Wind xi. 214 He was still a young girl's dream of the Perfect Knight.

1951 Sunday Pict. 21 Jan. 16/3 He's a promoter's dream and has sold £450 worth of tickets for this outing.

1988 Travelling Spring 16/1 Queensland is a varied country indeed.., it's white beaches are a sun-worshipper's dream.

2008 New Yorker 20 Oct. 12/2 This spot seems like the excursioning Manhattanite's dream: an easy commute, an instantly identifiable hipness.

a. A state of mind in which a person is or seems to be unaware of his or her immediate surroundings; a daze.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > physical insensibility > dullness of sense perception > [noun] > state of physical stupefaction

dazedness1340

excessa1387

stupora1398

stupefaction?a1425

dazingc1522

damp1542

daziness1554

dazzling1581

stupidity1603

stupidity?1615

stupidness1619

stupification1650

dream1717

dazzlement1841

daze1855

dazement1855

lull1856

mazement1901

1717 Censor 19 Mar. 1 Your little Wits, whose distinguishing Talent is Smartness, will say that they think I am always in a Dream.

1818 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. June 273/1 My faculties wrought to such a degree, that I was in a dream all day long.

1883 R. Broughton Belinda III. iii. viii. 46 He rows slowly on in a dream, his eyes intoxicatedly watching that pendent hand.

1933 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Cloud Howe iv. 233 She fell in a dream.., looking up and across the slow-peopled parks.

1989 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 14 Apr. He simply rode out of the ring—and rode and rode. When he snapped out of the dream, he didn't know where he was.

2004 P. Maslowski & D. Winslow Looking for Hero viii. 239 A soldier feels dissociated from the battle, as if he was in a dream or trance floating above the fray.

b. A series of (esp. pleasant) thoughts indulged in while awake, often distracting one's attention from the present; a daydream, a reverie.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > daydream or reverie > [noun]

castle in Spainc1400

reverie1477

brown studyc1555

castle in the skies1576

castle in the air1579

comedown1583

memento1587

towers in the air1599

daydream1651

dream1732

air castle1786

châteaux in air1793

chateau(x) en Espagne1834

cloud-castle1887

pipe dream1890

fantasy1926

1732 Country Jrnl. 26 Feb. 1/1 I was musing in this Manner, in my great Chair, when I fell into a Dream, or Rêverie, as you please to call it. I imagined that myself and many others, all Tenants to a great Lord, [etc.].

1819 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 727/1 Tims startled at this simile, but said nothing, and probably relapsed into a dream of the Epping-Hunt, at which the stag is very conveniently made to jump out of..a waggon.

1837 Christian Examiner & Gen. Rev. Sept. 99 So absorbing is the interest of the tale they unfold,..that evermore as we read we relapse into a dream, and are carried along, quite unconscious of ought but the scenes described.

1904 R. E. Young Henderson iii. 81 He..shook himself out of the dream: ‘Oh, you fool!’ he told himself sharply; ‘always dreaming up some smoke-woman, some bachelor's comfort.’

2008 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 5 Oct. 58 I stumble through the afternoon, lost in dreams about thick slices of rare roast beef, native oysters and smoked salmon.

5. A delightful, excellent, or exceptionally attractive person or thing; an ideal or perfect example of something.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > [noun] > beautiful thing or person

fairnesseOE

roseOE

beautya1425

beauteous1435

lovelyc1450

beautifulness?1574

picturea1645

formosity1652

speciosity1660

vision1823

dream1837

jewel box1846

firecracker1852

beaut1896

1837 M. Boddington Sketches in Pyrenees I. xix. 366 The other [child had] more beauty than I have seen for many a day,—quite a dream of a creature, so delicately put together.

1888 Lady 25 Oct. 374/1 My little dream of a place..such a sweet, select watering-place.

1892 Daily News 2 May 2/1 Attired in a succession of those lovely gowns which enthusiasts delight to describe as ‘a dream’.

1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 8/3 Mother has bought me a dream of a breakfast-coat for my trousseau.

1972 Times 17 Mar. 26/5 (advt.) Absolute dream of a Devonshire thatched house for sale.

1988 A. Hollinghurst Swimming Pool Libr. xii. 281 I followed his gaze to the shirtless figure dancing at the punchbag. ‘Yes, that's Maurice. He's a dream, isn't he.’

2010 Yachting Monthly Apr. 82/4 This is a very well designed yacht that is a dream to sail.

B. adj. (attributive).

That is dreamed of or longed for; perfect, ideal. In early use overlapping with Compounds 1b.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > perfection > [adjective] > ideal

ideal1609

dreamlike1615

abstract1625

preterpluperfect1652

idealized1810

goldena1817

pluperfect1831

dream1884

fairy-tale-ish1884

dreamy1892

fairy tale1904

pluterperfect1908

fairy story1913

1884 Girl's Own Paper 12 Jan. 229/2 ‘Oh, Essie, It reminds me of our cottage...’ Our little dream cottage.

1903 Westm. Gaz. 6 July 10/1 Mr. Gibson was not slow to grasp the resemblance between his dream-girl and the real.

1911 J. London Let. 30 May (1966) 347 I am building my dream-house on my dream-ranch.

1948 Anchora of Delta Gamma Jan. 25/2 Mountains and ocean, wherever you looked, a really dream city.

1960 Guardian 14 Apr. 12/4 A dream London in which there are fewer cars.

1967 P. G. Wodehouse Company for Henry iv. 66 We got engaged. The family put up a considerable beef..because I wasn't everybody's dream girl.

1998 Australian (Nexis) 2 Oct. 7 That is an absolutely dream run for any government or any treasurer. I mean, talk about falling on your feet.

2011 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 29 Sept. e6/3 His dream job would be event-planning for elderly communities.

Phrases

P1. Proverb. dreams go by contraries and variants: a dream foreshadows the opposite of what has been dreamed.

ΚΠ

c1460 (?c1400) Tale of Beryn Prol. l. 108 Comynly of these swevenys þe contrary men shul fynde.

1566 W. Adlington tr. Apuleius .XI. Bks. Golden Asse iv. xxi. f. 43 The visions of the night doo often chaunce contrary [L. tunc etiam nocturnae visiones contrarios eventus nonnumquam pronuntiant].]

1575 P. Beverley Hist. Ariodanto & Ieneura (new ed.) sig. C.i But why should I thus trust in dreames that fansies be of mynde... At least a dreame is contrary.

1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft x. vi. 183 Dreames prooue contrarie.

1673 W. Wycherley Gentleman Dancing-master iv. i Ne'er fear it: dreams go by the contraries.

1762 Guardian 13 July 87 I overheard an unlucky old woman telling her neighbour, that dreams always went by contraries.

1832 London Lit. Gaz. 30 June 404/1 As dreams go by contraries, so Conaghty's perverse vision of matrimonial happiness induced him to select a sposa very excellent internally.

1969 G. Bateson in T. A. Sebeok & A. Ramsay Approaches to Animal Communication 24 Do dreams go by opposites? Is the moral the opposite of what the dream seems to say?

2000 M. Mir in I. J. Boullata Literary Struct. Relig. Meaning Qur’ān viii. 179 And perhaps on occasion Joseph has wondered about the dream he saw in Canaan. ls it true that dreams go by contraries?

P2. a (also one's) dream come true: the realization of one's most cherished hopes or aspirations; the achievement of a seemingly impossible goal; something or someone that fulfils a person's idea of perfection.

ΚΠ

1803 Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 158/2 If a damsel did a sweet-heart need,..or dream come true,..Here is a wond'rous man would shew her how.

1870 New Monthly Mag. Nov. 552 Dearest,..it is a dream come true. A singular fatality has thrown us together.

1924 Times 22 Oct. 21/2 (advt.) One's first evening..will probably be like a dream come true—jewelled..with African stars, hauntingly perfumed by sub-tropic flowers.

1937 C. Porter In Still of Night in R. Kimball Compl. Lyrics C. Porter (1983) 156 Are you my life-to-be, my dream come true?

2004 Rugby World Feb. 40/2 When I was a kid I was a massive All Blacks fan. It was a dream come true to play against them.

P3. love's young dream: see love n.¹ Phrases 9.

P4. the——of one's dreams: the person or thing that one has dreamed of or longed for; one's model of perfection.

ΚΠ

1824 J. Fellowes Reminiscences 128 A health to the girl of my dreams,..—Bessy!

1846 D. G. Osborne tr. E. Sue Orphan I. xxxviii. 276 At last I have found the man of my dreams. He..only passed by—I know neither his name, nor who he is.

1861 Peterson's Mag. Nov. 369/1 I've seen beautiful, brilliant, accomplished..women; but..I have not found the one little, loving, home woman of my dreams.

1896 Kansas City (Missouri) Star 14 Oct. 8/3 You find yourself..saddled with a house the wrong shape, the wrong size.., bearing but the faintest resemblance to the ideal house of your dreams.

1907 S. M. Düring Disinherited v. 77 It was not the wedding of her dreams,..but a hideous travesty of them, with Sir Peter, silver-haired, sixty-three and suffering from the gout, as bridegroom.

1947 Pop. Mech. July 238/1 (advt.) Have you a flair for youth and beauty? Then the new fine Crosley Convertible is the car of your dreams!

2003 Independent 30 July (Review section) 2/3 [I] arrive at my speed-dating event... I have three minutes to decide whether each date is the man of my dreams.

P5. Originally U.S. to live the (also one's) dream (and variants): to achieve the way of life one has dreamed of or longed for; to realize one's hopes and aspirations.

ΚΠ

1878 Ballou's Monthly Mag. Jan. 61/2 The two..were living the dream that had blessed them in early youth.

1888 Scribner's Mag. May 324/1 Celia had begun to live her dream: she sat at her lover's table; whatever this life might be for which she had yearned, she was in the midst of it.

1943 Ammunition (United Automobile, Aircraft, & Agric. Implement Workers Amer.) July 18/2 I..am the heart of America: Me, Jake Smith, with a hoe in my hand,..A handful of wheat in my fist for my people... Living the dream and loving it.

1987 K. Thornton Learning to live with Emotions 14 Phil grew up believing he could never live his dream, so he..martyred himself in a job he disliked.

2007 Daily Tel. 12 Dec. 23/2 More and more people behave as if they have some..inalienable right to be rich... Everyone is encouraged to live the dream and count the pennies later.

P6. Originally U.S. like a dream: easily, effortlessly, without difficulty; (also) very well, successfully.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > easiness > easy, easily, or without difficulty [phrase]

with a wet finger1542

for the whistling1546

like a bird1825

as easy (or simple) as falling (or rolling) off a log1839

without tears1857

like a dream1882

as easy as winking1907

1882 Las Vegas Daily Gaz. 9 Sept. 2/1 The Sherwin and Strahn scheme didn’t work like a dream or a charm, and Governor Sheldon still holds the governor’s three-legged stool down.

1887 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Sentinel 2 May 3/5 The line was built..and for two weeks or a month it worked like a dream.

1894 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Jrnl. 14 Dec. 5/5 I have got hold of an old-time colored ‘auntie’ who cooks like a dream.

1923 I. Gershwin Hot Hindoo in Compl. Lyrics (1993) 34/2 Back in the land where Buddha is all supreme, There's a sweet nautch girl who can dance like a dream.

1949 R. Stout Second Confession (1950) xi. 87 The engine..starts like a dream, warm or cold.

1961 Guardian 28 Nov. 16/2 The Piccadilly one-way system..worked ‘like a dream’ throughout the day.

1996 D. Paterson in H. Ritchie New Sc. Writing 72 The new poem is coming along like a dream.

2004 Canad. Yachting Apr. 32/1 It steers like a dream.

P7. in one's wildest dreams and variants: see wild adj. 13a.

P8. colloquial (originally U.S.). in your (my, etc.) dreams: (as an ironic or resigned comment on an aim or hope unlikely to be fulfilled) ‘that is highly improbable’; ‘not a chance’; ‘some hope’; cf. dream on at dream v.² Phrases 1.

ΚΠ

1976 J. Schumacher Car Wash (final draft screenplay) 58 Goody: I'm gonna get you Chuko... Chuko: In your dreams Pocahontas.

1986 Re: why believe in Religion? in talk.religion.misc (Usenet newsgroup) 9 Oct. Even if every Christian were to magically become an atheist tomorrow (in your dreams, right?), there would still be a loud and quite organized cry against abortion.

1998 C. Worrall Grace xxvi. 264 ‘She's not a goer, then?’.. ‘In my dreams.’

2000 J. Goodwin Danny Boy iii. 65 Aggressive lads and dressed-up lasses all trying hard to pretend they didn't live in Lincoln. ‘Nah, mate. Just passin through on me way to me London flat, like.’ In your dreams.

2002 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 10 May 15 They reasoned that..they could build up a nice cushion of points, forcing Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello to play catch up in the second half of the season. In their dreams!

Compounds

C1.

(a) General attributive (chiefly in sense A. 1a), as dream habit, dream imagery, dream language, dream logic, dream lore, dream play, dream process, dream story, etc. Some of the more established compounds of this type are treated separately.

ΚΠ

1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 269 Carpocrates..practised all manner of Magical arts; used..oniropompists, or Dream-artists, [etc.].

1833 Essex Standard 27 Apr. ‘The Lay Figure’ is a dream-story of horror.

a1838 G. Cox tr. F. Otto Hist. Russ. Lit. (1839) 247 He..recorded the emotions of his own past life in the gilded dream imagery of song.

1859 Harper's Mag. Feb. 352/2 She would frequently lay some little toy on my pillow, which she called a dream-charm.

1889 Science 1 Feb. 88/2 The effect of dream-habits upon mental work is also evident.

1897 G. B. Shaw Let. 4 July (1965) I. 779 It sounded at once serious and inexplicable, like a dream-play.

1909 W. James Let. 19 Sept. in R. B. Perry Thought & Char. W. James (1935) II. lviii. 123 I strongly suspect Freud, with his dream-theory, of being a regular halluciné.

1913 A. A. Brill tr. S. Freud Interpretation of Dreams vi. 402 The dream activity makes use of the displacement of psychic intensities up to the transvaluation of all psychic values.

1916 D. H. Lawrence Amores 27 The dream-stuff is molten and moving mysteriously.

1925 S. Lewis Arrowsmith xxvi. 279 He hates pseudo-scientists, guess-scientists—like these psycho-analysts; and worse than those comic dream-scientists he hates [etc.].

1935 Amer. Mercury Aug. 436/1 [James] Joyce..is, throughout Work in Progress, assaying a dream language.

1944 Mind 53 179 The imagery-world into which we pass..is just the way the dream-process..presents itself.

1996 D. F. Wallace Supposedly Fun Thing I'll never do Again (1997) 200 The movie's surrealism and dream-logic.

2006 J. Belanger & K. Dalley Nightmare Encycl. a. 42 The largest and most complete compilation of dream lore to survive from the ancient world is the Oneirocritica..of Artemidorus.

(b)

dream analysis n.

ΚΠ

1865 A. H. Grant Lit. & Curiosities Dreams I. i. v. 76 (heading) Dream-analysis.

1910 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 21 311 He [sc. Freud]..found in dream analysis..a great aid to the treatment of neuroses.

2000 P. Thompson Voice of Past (ed. 3) v. 175 The specific techniques of free association and dream analysis are not part of this therapeutic approach.

dream consciousness n.

ΚΠ

1886 Star (St. Peter Port, Guernsey) 16 Sept. The facts, or phenomena..of our dream consciousness at once show themselves to us, invested with an importance which before did not attach to them.

1917 D. H. Lawrence in Seven Arts Mar. 443 The thin, transparent membrane of her sleep, her overlying dream-consciousness.

2009 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 122 30/1 The organized and selective nature of dream consciousness.

dream content n.

ΚΠ

1901 Jrnl. Mental Sci. 47 371 We have to distinguish between the apparent dream-content and the latent dream-content.

1971 U. K. Le Guin Lathe of Heaven (1973) ii. 27 He had not been sure hypnosuggestion would work on dream content in a first hypnosis.

2011 F. Brady Endgame iii. 56 Freud held that dream content usually consists of material garnered from incidents, thoughts, images, and emotions experienced during or preceding the day of the dream.

dream experience n.

ΚΠ

1838 T. De Quincey in Tait's Edinb. Mag. June 360/1 The dreams had been composed slowly..according to the accidental prevalence..of the separate elements of such dream in my own real dream-experience.

1910 W. James in Jrnl. Philos. 7 90 I woke again two or three times before daybreak with no dream-experiences.

2008 Anthropologica 50 77/1 Occasions..when dream experiences and narratives are shared.

dream interpretation n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > study or interpretation of

oneirocriticism1614

oneirocritics1614

oneiromancy1650

oneirocritic1744

oneirology1818

dream interpretation1846

oneiroscopy1887

oneirocrisy1976

1846 L. M. Child Fact & Fiction 168 The shadow of the dream interpretation [was] still resting on their souls.

1913 A. A. Brill tr. S. Freud Interpretation of Dreams ii. 102 If the method of dream interpretation here indicated is followed, it will be found that the dream really has meaning.

2011 Titusville (Pa.) Herald 15 Jan. 7/2 There are many scholarly endeavours aimed at gaining insight into our psyche and our relationships through dream interpretation.

dream life n.

ΚΠ

1837 H. McCormac Philos. Human Nature ii. xv. 137 During our dream-life..we possess a faculty of which we are destitute when awake.

1909 W. James in Proc. Amer. Soc. Psychical Res. 3 586 The will to personate may fall outside of the medium's own dream-life.

1993 H. Gardner Creating Minds iii. 73 The impetus of the dream arises in the unconscious system, where the dream wish is harbored;..at night.., it erupts into the dream life.

dream state n.

ΚΠ

1841 C. S. Henry tr. L. E. M. Bautain Epitome Hist. Philos. I. 30 The images which man perceives in the illusion or dream-state [Fr. rève] of the intelligence.

1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 10/1 Such patterns can only persist in a dream state.

2007 51st London Film Festival (British Film Institute programme) 64/1 The hyper-reality of the colours..suggest that they (and we!) are in a dream state.

b. With the sense ‘that is seen or experienced in a dream’; ‘that is dreamed about’; (also) ‘that is illusory, unreal, etc., as in a dream’, as dream-child, dream country, dream figure, dream-hall, dream image, dream-kingdom, dream-light, dream scenery, etc. Sometimes coloured by sense B.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > image which appears in

phantom1557

phantasma1598

dream vision1702

dream figurec1819

dream imagec1819

dream-picture1840

dream landscape1865

dreamscape1876

c1819 S. T. Coleridge Marginalia (1998) IV. 781 In sleep the Sensations..are the causes of our Dream-images.

1821 Morning Chron. 31 Dec. (advt.) Dream-Children; a Reverie, by Elia.

1834 T. De Quincey S. T. Coleridge in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 511/1 It is very possible..that..he had meditated a poem on delirium, confounding its own dream scenery with external things.

1835 E. S. Wortley Travelling Sketches 35 All shall be mine again! and fitly seen, By pale, pure Dream-light.

1844 E. B. Barrett Poems II. 115 The bird shall be my harper in the dream-hall I have won.

1852 Examiner 13 Nov. 724/3 Compared with such creations [sc. those of Fielding] we too often find in Mr Thackeray's works dream figures only.

1869 G. M. Hopkins Jrnls. & Papers (1959) 194 The dream-images also appear to have little or no projection.

1882 Cent. Mag. Mar. 661/1 These stair-ways still stand, and make a curious picture, breaking in like dream-views of the past upon the busy modern street.

1904 Westm. Gaz. 26 Apr. 8/1 Ariadne, pale and dainty as a dream-flower.

1918 E. Sitwell Clowns' Houses 11 Then, mirage-waters as they flow, Or dream-perfumes, they fade and go.

1925 T. S. Eliot Poems 1909–25 96 Eyes I dare not meet in dreams In death's dream kingdom.

1926 M. Leinster Dew on Leaf 114 Dream-son be all that I shall ever know.

1989 J. Updike Self-consciousness vi. 242 Now the dog heaves in his sleep, woofing at some dream-prey.

2003 S. Feld tr. J. Rouch Ciné-ethnography 132 It was a dream country. The cliffs of Bandiagara were like the cliffs in Salvador Dali's paintings.

c. With the sense ‘that is done, carried out, etc., in a dream’, as dream-alliance, dream-change, dream discourse, dream idea, dream-travel, dream wish, etc.

ΚΠ

1849 H. Mayo Lett. on Truths Pop. Superstitions vi. 91 He did not hear the loudest sound when it lay out of the circle of his dream ideas.

1850 S. Judd Philo 150 I see the house; it seems in some dream-change, As if it had its substance in enchantment.

1916 Sci. Monthly May 471 The fact that a dreamer may carry on a dream conversation..is proof of highly complex and rationalized activity in sleep.

1920 D. H. Lawrence Lost Girl (1921) i. 13 He recounted his dream-adventures.

1936 Burlington Mag. Aug. 85/1 His dream-wishes should be fulfilled in reality.

1951 S. Spender World within World 310 Reader-writer walk together in a real-seeming dream-alliance leading into gardens inhabited by Stephen Daedalus and Marcel.

1976 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 96 30/1 He made a specialty of dream travel..a fairly obvious way of solving the problems of the transit of interstellar space.

1989 German Q. 62 66/1 His connection to Mathilde is located in the symbiotic primality and timelessness of dream discourse.

2000 P. Wynne & C. E. Hostetter in V. Flieger & C. E. Hostetter Tolkien's Legendarium ii. 129 Arundel Lowdham (whose given name was actually Ælfwine, and who by dream-travel becomes the tenth-century minstrel of the same name) [etc.].

C2. Objective, with agent nouns and present participles, as dream bringer, dream interpreter, dream maker; dream-haunting, dream-inducing, dream-making, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > study or interpretation of > one who studies or interprets

dream readera1387

dream doctor1545

dream interpreter?1611

dream-tellera1641

oneirocritica1652

dream-speller1652

oneiropolist1652

oneiromancer1653

oneiromantist1653

oneirocrite1693

oneirologist1834

oneiroscopist1889

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > interpretation of dreams > [noun] > one who practises

readerOE

dream readera1387

conjectora1425

dream doctor1545

dream interpreter?1611

conjecturer1612

dream-tellera1641

oneirocritica1652

dream-speller1652

oneiropolist1652

oneiromancer1653

oneiromantist1653

oneirocrite1693

oneiroscopist1727

oneirologist1834

?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads i. 2 Let vs aske, some Prophet, Priest, or proue Some dreame interpreter [1598 interpretor of dreames, Gk. ὀνειροπόλον]..Why Phoebus is so much incenst?

1650 J. Trapp Clavis to Bible (Gen. xx. i.) 152 Simon Magus had his dream-haunting Devils..his familiars by whom he deluded men in their dreams.

1822 T. Mitchell in tr. Aristophanes Comedies II. 297 (note) The person here satirised seems to have been the diviner and dream-interpreter of that name.

1845 C. Norton Child of Islands 182 Thought, the great Dream-bringer, who joys and grieves Over the visions of her own creating.

1846 Monthly Relig. Mag. May 200 The past is a dream-haunting phantom.

1863 Cornhill Mag. Dec. 755 Work dropped from my hands, and dream-making began.

1918 Open Court Oct. 605 Then dream-loving human nature reasserted itself.

1972 Econ. Bot. 26 348/1 The dream-inducing qualities of plant-derived drugs.

1976 N. Botham & P. Donnelly Valentino xvii. 120 The Olympians of the dream-making industry were exposed as mere mortals.

1986 V. Hearne Adam's Task (1987) xi. 263 Children are encouraged to forget dream-mongering and grow up.

1992 Border Crossings Fall 12/1 Can you imagine what being brought up by an eccentric dream-believer was like?

2008 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 17 Feb. (Front section) 8 (advt.) I'm not just a travel agent. I'm a certified dream maker. I'm the person behind your travel plans.

C3. Instrumental, as dream-awakened, dream-based, dream-born, dream-built, dream-created, dream-fed, dream-filled, dream-haunted, dream-ridden, etc., adjectives.

ΚΠ

1631 W. Lisle Faire Æthiopian ix. 159 Me thinkes now dreameth this my dreame-borne childe.

1777 R. Potter tr. Æschylus Tragedies 238 Oft as short slumbers close his eyes..The dream-created [Gk. ὀνειρόφαντοι] visions rise.

1793 J. Pollock Lett. to Inhabitants Newry v. 202 Ever-waking avarice, dream-haunted ambition, and the perseveringly restless herd of agitators.

1821 Ld. Byron Marino Faliero (2nd issue) ii. i. 57 Yet a few days and dream-perturbed nights, And I shall slumber well.

1829 R. Montgomery in London Lit. Gaz. 28 Feb. 147/3 In some dream-built palace of the night, Where angel-whispers make the spirit glow.

1836 Morning Post 22 Jan. Even a Whig Government could not be so silly or so shameless as to propound such an object of inquiry, except to a dream-ridden utilitarian, like Mr. Bentham.

1858 Press 29 May 511/3 It is with such tawdry embellishments that a dream-fed imagination decks a very trivial incident.

1899 W. B. Yeats Wind among Reeds 35 Unknown spears Suddenly hurtle before my dream-awakened eyes.

1930 T. S. Eliot Ash-Wednesday 20 The dreamcrossed twilight between birth and dying.

1932 A. MacLeish Conquistador i. 18 We stared as dream-awakened men in wonder.

1938 W. de la Mare Memory & Other Poems 84 Her dream-ridden eyes.

1979 B. Dean Wellspring xiii. 189 I fall into a dream-filled sleep.

2008 New Yorker 23 June 15/1 Its puzzle-like construction, dream-based interludes, and cryptic asides go far beyond the plot.

C4. Similative, as dream-bright, dream-heavy, dream-sweet, etc., adjectives. (Chiefly poetic.)

ΚΠ

1878 F. W. Bourdillon Among Flowers 51 Our dream-sweet love was not a dream.

1897 W. B. Yeats Secret Rose 2 The enchantment of his dream-heavy voice was in her ears.

1913 Crisis July 132/1 The magic city..lies on its hills above silvery waters, dream-beautiful and all but uncanny in its unexpectedness.

1992 M. Van Walleghen in Prairie Schooner 66 95 One of those dream-bright too blue mornings after days of basement-flooding rain.

C5.

† dream-awake adj. Obsolete rare in a state between dreaming and waking; cf. sleep-awake n. and adj. at sleep n. Compounds 4.

ΚΠ

1614 J. Sylvester Bethulia's Rescue v. 7 Soft, drowsie, dream-awake.

dream book n. a book containing interpretations of dreams.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > interpretation of dreams > [noun] > book containing

dream book1703

1703 W. Freke Lingua Tersancta lv. 440 A Dream-Book, that is, discovering a true Instruction about Dreams.

1803 M. L. Weems Let. 27 Aug. in Ford's M. L. Weems: Wks. & Ways (1929) II. 272 To that list you may add..Some dream books, dreaming Dictionaries and above all, some Pilg. Progress.

2005 M. O'Connor Bitch Posse xxiii. 180 I wonder what it means. I used to have this dream book, but I didn't get to take that here with me.

dream doctor n. a person who interprets dreams; (now esp.) a person who gives medical or spiritual guidance regarding dreams. Now chiefly in anthropological contexts.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > study or interpretation of > one who studies or interprets

dream readera1387

dream doctor1545

dream interpreter?1611

dream-tellera1641

oneirocritica1652

dream-speller1652

oneiropolist1652

oneiromancer1653

oneiromantist1653

oneirocrite1693

oneirologist1834

oneiroscopist1889

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > interpretation of dreams > [noun] > one who practises

readerOE

dream readera1387

conjectora1425

dream doctor1545

dream interpreter?1611

conjecturer1612

dream-tellera1641

oneirocritica1652

dream-speller1652

oneiropolist1652

oneiromancer1653

oneiromantist1653

oneirocrite1693

oneiroscopist1727

oneirologist1834

1545 G. Joye Expos. Daniel (v.) f. 64^v His sothesayers, dreame doctours, enchaunters, sorcerers.

1822 T. Gaspey Lollards II. v. 96 The more grave and solemn tones in which..the communications of the dream-doctor should be made.

1896 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 10 Oct. 1083/2 Though practically extinct in the colony, the profession of dream-doctor was in full swing in Zululand prior to the dethronement of Cetewayo.

2000 O. Flanagan Dreaming Souls vi. 179 If a person dreams four times of sex with an individual to whom he or she is not married, the person is obliged to confess to a dream doctor, who assists the dreamer in..gaining release from the inappropriate desire.

dream-fabric n. an insubstantial or vague idea, concept, etc.

ΚΠ

1845 ‘Young England’ Tracts for Manhood: On Regeneration 29 There is yet hope..unless, indeed, this Brotherhood be after all a Chimera—a baseless dream-fabric—having no root whatever in the soul of man.

2007 M. Doody Tropic of Venice iv. 124 Its [sc. Venice's] goods..offer a heightening of imagination, a dream-fabric rather than solidity.

dream factory n. (a) a notional factory where dreams are made; (b) a manufacturer of fabricated or idealized concepts or situations, esp. a film studio or television production company; the film industry, spec. Hollywood.

ΚΠ

1894 Harper's Young People 23 Oct. 866/1 We live on happiness,..doing..very nice things for other people. Why, the years I had charge of our dream factory I got rich enough to keep me in happiness all my days.

1935 J. Rorty in Forum & Cent. Sept. 162/1 Hollywood is organized and capitalized evasion of reality... It is a vast, departmentalized, delicately coordinated dream factory.

1936 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 42 428 Los Angeles and Hollywood, with its ‘dream factories’.

1965 A. Ryvers tr. P. Ravignant Edge on Darkness ii. 66 There were some whose industry was dream: they spun..dreams as others wool. They had dream factories and dream merchants dealing in dreams.

1999 N.Y. Times 11 Feb. b1/2 Mr. Spelling, the elfin mogul in charge of television's most productive dream factory, knows a thing or two about fantasy dwellings.

2001 Chicago Tribune 2 Nov. ii. 4/4 The seedy side of Los Angeles' dream factories and palm-lined streets.

dream feed n. an instance of nursing or bottle-feeding a baby during the night without fully waking him or her.

ΚΠ

2001 T. Hogg & M. Blau Secrets Baby Whisperer vi. 185 When an infant is six weeks old, I suggest..giving what I call a dream feed right before you retire for bed.

2016 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 26 Sept. 23 Give your baby a late-night feed or ‘dream feed’ at the same time every night even if you have to wake him to do so.

dream feed v. transitive to nurse or bottle-feed (a baby) during the night without fully waking him or her.

ΚΠ

2003 www.mumsnet.com 11 Dec. (forum post, accessed 12 June 2017) We used to ‘dream feed’ ds—would get him up at 10pm, he'd basically feed in his sleep most of the time.

2016 G. Ford Your Baby & Toddler Probl. Solved 115 Many mothers find it is possible to ‘dream feed’ their babies. This means picking them up form their cots at 10pm but not fully waking them.

dream feeding n. the action or practice of nursing or bottle-feeding a baby during the night without fully waking him or her.

ΚΠ

2001 T. Hogg & M. Blau Secrets Baby Whisperer vi. 185 With dream feeding, literally nurse or bottle-feed her in her sleep.

2015 N. Fernando & M. Potock Raising Healthy, Happy Eater iii. 38 Dream feeding..is possible because between birth and six months, the suckling reflex is automatic.

dream-footed adj. literary and poetic treading softly; light-footed; also figurative.

ΚΠ

1865 J. R. Lowell Ode at Harvard Commem. x Dream-footed as the shadow of a cloud, They [sc. names] flit across the ear.

1916 Times 14 Feb. 9/3 I, dream-footed, walked among the streams.

2011 P. Grandbois Nahoonkara 142 The soft crunch of snow beneath dreamfooted hooves.

dream landscape n. a landscape seen in a dream; (now chiefly) the world of dreams perceived as a landscape; cf. dreamscape n. 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > image which appears in

phantom1557

phantasma1598

dream vision1702

dream figurec1819

dream imagec1819

dream-picture1840

dream landscape1865

dreamscape1876

1865 W. Collins Armadale ii. v, in Cornhill Mag. Feb. 151 Can you find us the original of this mysterious figure in the dream-landscape?

2010 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 7 Sept. d5/1 Emotional events may work their way into a person's dreams that night. But..those events disappear from the dream landscape—often to be reincorporated roughly a week later.

dream machine n. (a) a (notional) device which produces dreams or images in the brain; (b) an ideal or dreamed-of machine, esp. a motor vehicle, or (figurative) a powerful, efficient sports team (cf. mean machine n. at mean adj.¹ Compounds 2); (c) a manufacturer of fabricated or idealized concepts or situations; the film or television industry, esp. Hollywood; (cf. dream factory n. (b)).

ΚΠ

1905 C. Wheeler Doubledarling & Dream Spinner 34 Papa, are there dream machines? And will they make any kind of dreams you want?

1930 Manitoba Free Press 12 July 29/4 This dream machine [sc. the commercial airplane of the future] is to be equipped with silent engines.

1931 Wichita Daily Times (Wichita Falls, Texas) 2 Jan. 13/2 Some folks will contend that Alabama was the equal or superior of Knute Rockne's dream machine.

1943 Barron's National Business & Financial Weekly 13 Dec. 11/2 Leaders in the [farming equipment] industry..have cautioned against expecting ‘dream machines’ on the day of victory.

1963 Observer 17 Nov. 13/2 Malraux's latest speech ranged from Chaplin to Antigone... The evils of the ‘dream machines’ of cinema and TV.

1986 Tel. (Austral.) (Nexis) 1 Aug. 42/6 Australia's dream machine, the women's 4x400m relay team's answer to the mean machine, has called on swimming's motivator Laurie Lawrence for help.

1995 Village Voice (N.Y.) 7 Mar. 29/2 The Angry White Male is very much a creature of the dream machine.

2003 Independent 27 Aug. (Review section) 2/2 Most of his Harley-riding friends are..men of a certain age who think that by buying up their dream machine they can recapture a little of their lost youth.

dream palace n. (a) an ideal or dreamed-of world or existence (cf. castle in the air n. at castle n. 11); (b) a perfect house or home, a building of extravagant design or decoration; (c) a place where people can escape into a fantasy world; spec. a cinema (cf. dream factory n. (b)).

ΚΠ

1848 Sc. Temperance Rev. Nov. 494/1 Castle-building and dream palaces are always a-building.

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer 318 They [sc. his plans and projects] appeared to him in this his dark hour as the fantasies of an opium-eater or the dream-palaces of a slumbering child.

1907 Lebanon (Indiana) Patriot 2 May 4/1 Chicago's giant white city of dream palaces and magnificent distances!

1939 Moville (Iowa) Mail 2 Nov. 2/4 Little Lucy had never seen such a room as the one to which Edith led her. The whole house was, indeed, a dream palace.

1950 Winnipeg Free Press 23 Dec. 12/5 The public houses are less handsome now..(their place as dream palaces of the poor taken by super-cinemas).

1956 Independent (Long Beach, Calif.) 20 Apr. 2/1 While other theaters..were ballyhooing ‘The Swan’, a movie starring Her Serene Highness, one dream palace had the courage to state..that here was ‘One place where you won't see, hear, or read about Grace Kelly.’

1999 D. Haslam Manchester, Eng. iii. 67 The dream palaces mirrored more closely the relentless glamour of 1930s Hollywood than the real world outside.

2011 National Post (Canada) (Nexis) 15 Jan. a16 In their dream palaces, Quebec would be a linguistically cleansed island paradise.

dream-picture n. (a) an image seen or as if seen in a dream; (b) a picture representing a dream. [In sense (a) after German Traumbild (16th cent. in Luther); compare earlier dream image at Compounds 1b.]

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > image which appears in

phantom1557

phantasma1598

dream vision1702

dream figurec1819

dream imagec1819

dream-picture1840

dream landscape1865

dreamscape1876

1840 C. C. Felton tr. W. Menzel German Lit. III. 178 The reader..sees one brilliant dream-picture [Ger. Traumbild] after another hurry before him, as if in a poetical wild-chase.

1844 Athenæum 30 Mar. 299/1 One of those dream-pictures in the treatment of which the painter of ‘Joshua’ and ‘Belshazzar's Feast’ will long remain unequalled.

1913 A. A. Brill tr. S. Freud Interpretation of Dreams i. 42 We give to the dream pictures the credence of reality because in sleep we have no other impressions to compare them with.

2003 Times 21 May (T2 section) 19/1 Collins's use of sharp shadows gives a hard edge to his dream-pictures.

dream poem n. a poem about a dream. In later use chiefly with reference to medieval narrative poetry; cf. dream vision n. 2.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > narrative poem > [noun] > other types of narrative poem

comedya1413

tragica1679

lai1774

fabliau1804

dream poem1850

parable-poem1884

dream vision1906

corrido1911

toast1962

1850 N. Brit. Rev. Feb. 385 Many of their most ambitious works were composed with as little premeditation as the dream-poems of a schoolboy's childhood.

a1963 C. S. Lewis Discarded Image (1964) iv. 63 Every allegorical dream-poem in the Middle Ages records a feigned somnium.

2004 T. Davenport Medieval Narr. vi. 199 The question of continuity does not usually arise in dream poems because they normally deal each with a single dream.

dream pop n. a style of popular music, usually featuring layered guitar effects and quiet or breathy vocals, in which the creation of an atmospheric, textured, often ethereal sound is as important as the melody, lyrics, etc.; frequently attributive. Cf. shoegazing n.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > pop music > [noun] > other pop music

a cappella1905

soundclash1925

marabi1933

doo-wop1958

filk1959

folk-rock1963

Liverpool sound1963

Mersey beat1963

Mersey sound1963

surf music1963

malombo1964

mbaqanga1964

easy listening1965

disco music1966

Motown1966

boogaloo1967

power pop1967

psychedelia1967

yé-yé1967

agitpop1968

bubblegum1968

Tamla Motown1968

Tex-Mex1968

downtempo1969

taarab1969

thrash1969

world music1969

funk1970

MOR1970

tropicalism1970

Afrobeat1971

electro-pop1971

post-rock1971

techno-pop1971

Tropicalia1971

tropicalismo1971

disco1972

Krautrock1972

schlager1973

Afropop1974

punk funk1974

disco funk1975

Europop1976

mgqashiyo1976

P-funk1976

funkadelia1977

karaoke music1977

alternative music1978

hardcore1978

psychobilly1978

punkabilly1978

R&B1978

cowpunk1979

dangdut1979

hip-hop1979

Northern Soul1979

rap1979

rapping1979

jit1980

trance1980

benga1981

New Romanticism1981

post-punk1981

rap music1981

scratch1982

scratch-music1982

synth-pop1982

electro1983

garage1983

Latin1983

Philly1983

New Age1984

New Age music1985

ambient1986

Britpop1986

gangster rap1986

house1986

house music1986

mbalax1986

rai1986

trot1986

zouk1986

bhangra1987

garage1987

hip-house1987

new school1987

old school1987

thrashcore1987

acid1988

acid house1988

acid jazz1988

ambience1988

Cantopop1988

dance1988

deep house1988

industrial1988

swingbeat1988

techno1988

dream pop1989

gangsta rap1989

multiculti1989

new jack swing1989

noise-pop1989

rave1989

Tejano1989

breakbeat1990

chill-out music1990

indie1990

new jack1990

new jill swing1990

noisecore1990

baggy1991

drum and bass1991

gangsta1991

handbag house1991

hip-pop1991

loungecore1991

psychedelic trance1991

shoegazing1991

slowcore1991

techno-house1991

gabba1992

jungle1992

sadcore1992

UK garage1992

darkcore1993

dark side1993

electronica1993

G-funk1993

sampladelia1994

trip hop1994

break1996

psy-trance1996

nu skool1997

folktronica1999

dubstep2002

Bongo Flava2003

grime2003

Bongo2004

singeli2015

1989 Independent 8 June 37/2 Frazier Chorus... Whispery, dream-pop quartet—chamber instruments, electronics and dippy art school pretension.

1992 Buffalo (N.Y.) News 23 Aug. g1/3 Dream pop: A kind of hazy, hallucinatory music, sort of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ meets the Grateful Dead. Dream pop groups include Ride and Curve.

2001 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Nov. 284/2 Routinely praised..for its ‘tuneful din’ or ‘atonal dream pop’, Yo La Tengo is in fact a cautionary tale of what happens when rock critics form a band.

dream reader n. a person who interprets dreams.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > study or interpretation of > one who studies or interprets

dream readera1387

dream doctor1545

dream interpreter?1611

dream-tellera1641

oneirocritica1652

dream-speller1652

oneiropolist1652

oneiromancer1653

oneiromantist1653

oneirocrite1693

oneirologist1834

oneiroscopist1889

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > interpretation of dreams > [noun] > one who practises

readerOE

dream readera1387

conjectora1425

dream doctor1545

dream interpreter?1611

conjecturer1612

dream-tellera1641

oneirocritica1652

dream-speller1652

oneiropolist1652

oneiromancer1653

oneiromantist1653

oneirocrite1693

oneiroscopist1727

oneirologist1834

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 143 (MED) He trowed þat þe menynge of drem rederes [L. verbum conjectoris] was fulfilled.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 4502 Welnes o welth did þis boteler For-gete ioseph, his drem reder.

1578 W. Baldwin et al. Last Pt. Mirour for Magistrates (new ed.) Hastings, sig. Q5^v And, is thy Lord (quoth I) a Sorcerer? A wise man now become? a dreame reader?

1879 E. Arnold Light of Asia 3 The grey dream-readers said ‘The dream is good!’

2003 Jrnl. Japanese Stud. 29 258 Genji has a strange dream, of which a dream reader then gives him ‘an interpretation beyond the bounds of all plausibility’.

dream sequence n. (a) a sequence of images seen in a dream; (b) a part of a film or other work of art portraying a dream or dreamlike events.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > other specific types

gulf-dream1813

dreamlet1828

wet dream1851

dream sequence1893

wish-fulfilment1908

war dream1918

wish-dream1934

1893 World (N.Y.) 5 Nov. 4/7 However disconnected and illogical the dream sequences may be their material is a reflex of the normal impressions.

1926 Davenport (Iowa) Democrat & Leader 14 Apr. 3/4 May McAvoy..sacrifices her own good looks, except in a charming dream sequence of the picture, to the makeup of an ‘ugly duckling’.

1949 Amer. Anthropologist 51 177 One important instrument for investigating such interrelations [sc. between personality and culture] lies in the utilization of dreams and dream sequences.

2003 Time Out N.Y. 13 Feb. 96/3 The..kangaroo seen talking and..rapping in the trailer appears only in a fleeting dream sequence.

dream sleep n. sleep during which dreams occur, esp. a distinct phase of deep sleep during which most dreaming take place; REM sleep (see REM n.²).

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > [noun] > other specific types

subetha1398

rapid eye movement1900

dream sleep1902

REM1957

1902 G. Spiller Mind of Man ii. 68 In dream-sleep attention is at work at a level which is usually below the normal.

1962 E. Diamond Sci. of Dreams xi. 218 In one such experiment Hubel found that during the periods of dream sleep there was greater electrical activity in the nerve cells of the visual cortex.

2001 N.Y. Times 25 Jan. a1/6 The animal is certainly recalling memories of those events as they occurred during the awake state, and it is doing so during dream sleep.

dreamsmith n. rare a person who dreams; a dreamer.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > [noun] > fanciful person

dreamera1425

fantast1588

fantastical1589

fantastic1598

maggot-monger1607

Sabine1610

maggot-patea1640

wham1691

whim1712

visionarya1719

imaginariana1729

ideologue1815

ideologist1818

fancier1828

idealist1829

abstractionist1844

phantasist1864

dreamsmith1873

luftmensch1902

cuckoo-lander1916

fantasist1923

pie-in-the-skyer1973

1873 W. Morris Love is Enough 59 For her no marvels of the night I make, Nor keep my dream-smiths' drowsy heads awake.

1965 M. Katz Land of Manna 54 I am a Yiddish poet—a doomed troubadour, a dreamsmith jeered by the soft-voiced yokel.

† dream-speller n. Obsolete rare a person who interprets dreams.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > study or interpretation of > one who studies or interprets

dream readera1387

dream doctor1545

dream interpreter?1611

dream-tellera1641

oneirocritica1652

dream-speller1652

oneiropolist1652

oneiromancer1653

oneiromantist1653

oneirocrite1693

oneirologist1834

oneiroscopist1889

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > interpretation of dreams > [noun] > one who practises

readerOE

dream readera1387

conjectora1425

dream doctor1545

dream interpreter?1611

conjecturer1612

dream-tellera1641

oneirocritica1652

dream-speller1652

oneiropolist1652

oneiromancer1653

oneiromantist1653

oneirocrite1693

oneiroscopist1727

oneirologist1834

1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 313 At this, the dream-spellers were divided in their divinations.

dream-teller n. now rare a person who interprets dreams.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > study or interpretation of > one who studies or interprets

dream readera1387

dream doctor1545

dream interpreter?1611

dream-tellera1641

oneirocritica1652

dream-speller1652

oneiropolist1652

oneiromancer1653

oneiromantist1653

oneirocrite1693

oneirologist1834

oneiroscopist1889

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > interpretation of dreams > [noun] > one who practises

readerOE

dream readera1387

conjectora1425

dream doctor1545

dream interpreter?1611

conjecturer1612

dream-tellera1641

oneirocritica1652

dream-speller1652

oneiropolist1652

oneiromancer1653

oneiromantist1653

oneirocrite1693

oneiroscopist1727

oneirologist1834

a1641 R. Montagu Acts & Monuments (1642) 331 He sent for dreame-tellers to expound his dreame.

1730 J. Browne Lucubrations Sallmanazor Histrum 278 The Tribe of Conjurers, Coffee-tossers, Jepsy's, Dream-tellers &c. are able to make so many Fools in the World.

1832 Metropolitan Nov. 248 Should my readers..think me as great a twaddler as dream-tellers mostly are, they have but to..pass on to another article.

1995 Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Apr. 12/4 Much of the world Gleason explores is exotic..: physiognomists.., dream-tellers, astrologers, and medical writers.

dream-tide n. chiefly poetic (a) a flow of dreams or visions; (b) the time for dreams. [With sense (b) compare earlier dreamtime n. 1.]

ΚΠ

1852 New Albany (Indiana) Daily Tribune 25 June To flit away, like a thought of earth O'er the gush of its own dream-tide.

a1896 W. Morris Pilgrims of Hope in Coll. Wks. (1911) XXIV. 372 The fear of the dream-tide yet seemed to abide me In the cold and sad time ere the dawn of the day.

1908 J. Payne Carol & Cadence 192 In the foredawn dreamtide, before the Maying-time, My heart is welling, swelling with presage of the Prime.

2000 Observer (Nexis) 30 Jan. (Review section) 10 These scenes..are carried along on a dream-tide of images.

† dream-while n. Obsolete rare the duration of a dream or reverie; a short space of time.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > apparent duration of dream

dream-while1822

1822 C. Lamb in London Mag. Apr. 306/1 Now and then, for a dream-while or so.

1823 C. Lamb in Lancet 5 Oct. 33/1 In a moment of no irreverent weakness—for a dream-while—no more—[he] would be almost content.

dreamwork n. [after German Traumarbeit (S. Freud 1901, in Grenzfragen des Nerven- und Seelenlebens 1 314)] Psychoanalysis (chiefly in Freudian theory) the processes that transform the latent content of a dream into its manifest content, concealing its meaning from the dreamer and thus allowing undisturbed sleep to occur.

ΚΠ

1910 tr. S. Freud in Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 21 202 It is also possible..to get some insight into the process which has brought about the disguise of the unconscious dream thoughts as the manifest dream-content. We call this process ‘dream-work’ (Traumarbeit).

1913 A. A. Brill tr. S. Freud Interpretation of Dreams vi. 262 The dream which we recollect upon wakening would thus only be a remnant of the total dream-work.

1938 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. 28 294 Dream-work..enables a compromise to be reached between the satisfaction of the repressed urges and the need for sleep.

1992 J. Gollnick Love & Soul ii. 30 The essential dream thoughts are converted into the manifest dream images and actions by means of the dreamwork mechanisms, the principal ones being condensation, displacement, and dramatic representation.

Derivatives

dream-wise adv. in the manner of, or as in, a dream.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [adverb] > like or in the manner of

dreamingly1533

dream-wise1723

1723 N. Amhurst Poems Several Occasions 82 But dream-wise all this came to pass.

1880 W. Watson Prince's Quest 51 When all things dreamwise seemed to swim.

2010 E. Aston Writing Jane Austen ix. 162 Dream-wise, she was wafted upstairs and into the first-floor drawing room.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

† dreamv.¹

Forms: Old English dreman, Old English driman, Old English dryman, early Middle English dræme, early Middle English dreame, early Middle English dreme, early Middle English dreome.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.

Etymology: Cognate with or formed similarly to Old Saxon drōmian to cheer, clamour, to behave in a drunken manner < the same Germanic base as dream n.¹In Old English the prefixed form gedrīeman (compare y- prefix) is also attested; compare also frædrīeman to rejoice greatly (with intensifying prefix fræ- ; compare discussion at for- prefix¹).

Obsolete.

intransitive. To make a joyful noise, rejoice; to sing or make music; (of a musical instrument) to sound (also figurative). Also: to shout, clamour; to make merry, carouse.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > perform music [verb (intransitive)]

dreamOE

to make melodyc1330

to make minstrelsyc1330

note1340

practise?a1425

gest1508

melody1596

music1649

melodize1662

perform1724

spiel1870

OE Lambeth Psalter xcvii. 6 Iubilate in conspectu regis domini : dremaþ uel fægniaþ on gesihðe cyninges drihtnes.

OE Wulfstan Isaiah on Punishment for Sin (Hatton) 217 Hearpe & pipe & mistlice [read mistlic] gliggamen dremað eow on beorsele; & ge Godes cræfta nan ðing ne gymað.

OE St. Mildred (Lamb.) in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1914) 132 333 Anna seo halige wuduwa & Simeon se ealda sungon & drymdon.

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 316 Þet ower beoden bemen wel & dreamen in drichtines earen.

a1250 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 3 (MED) Murie dreameð engles biuoren þin onsene.

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 11420 Harpen gunnen dremen.

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 6780 Me heom brohte drinken & heo gunnen dremen.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2020).

dreamv.²

Brit.

/driːm/, U.S.

/drim/

Inflections: Past tense and past participle dreamed Brit.

/driːmd/, U.S.

/drimd/, (chiefly British) dreamt Brit.

/drɛmt/, U.S.

/drɛmt/;

Forms: Middle English dreym, Middle English–1500s dreeme, Middle English–1500s drem, Middle English–1500s dreme, Middle English–1600s dreame, 1600s dreem, 1600s driming (present participle), 1600s– dream, 1800s– drame (chiefly Irish English); also Scottish pre-1700 dreame, pre-1700 dreme, pre-1700 dreym, 1900s– draem, 2000s– draim. Past tense and past participle.

α. Middle English dremede, Middle English dremyd, Middle English–1500s dremed, 1500s dreamd, 1500s dremit, 1500s– dreamed, 1600s 1800s dream'd, 1900s– dramed (U.S. regional); also Scottish pre-1700 dremit, pre-1700 dremyt.

β. Middle English drempte, Middle English– drempt (now chiefly U.S. regional), 1500s– dreampt (now chiefly U.S. regional), 1500s– dreamt, 1500s– dremt (now chiefly U.S. regional), 1600s dream't.

γ. U.S. regional 1800s dreamp', 1800s– dremp, 1900s– dram, 1900s– dramp, 1900s– dream, 1900s– drem, 1900s– drump.

Origin: Either (i) formed within English, by conversion. Or (ii) a word inherited from Germanic. Etymon: dream n.²

Etymology: Either (i) < dream n.², or (ii) the reflex of an unattested Old English verb cognate with Middle Dutch drōmen (Dutch dromen ), Middle Low German drȫmen , Old High German troumen (German träumen ), Old Icelandic dreyma , Old Swedish dröma (Swedish drömma ), Old Danish, Danish drømme , all in sense ‘to dream’ < the Germanic base of dream n.²The impersonal construction in sense 1 (sometimes complemented by the cognate noun dream ) is paralleled in other early and medieval Germanic languages, where both the dreamer and the word for ‘dream’ are in the accusative. In Old English the usual word for ‘to dream’ is mǣtan mete v.²; also sometimes swefnian sweven v. Compare also see v. 11c.

1. transitive (impersonal). me (etc.) dreams: it occurs to me (etc.) in a dream; I (etc.) dream. Also with noun complement, as me (etc.) dreams a dream: I (etc.) have a dream. Chiefly in past tense. Now rare and archaic.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [verb (impersonal)]

me (etc.) metes sweveneOE

me dreamsc1300

c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 1304 Anoþer drem dremede me ek.

a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2059 Me drempte ic stod at a win-tre.

a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2049 Hem drempte dremes boðen onigt.

a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 1941 Quat-so him drempte ðor-quiles he slep.

c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xviii. l. 8 Of gerlis..gretly me dremed.

a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 51 That it was May thus dremed me.

?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 7347 (MED) Me dremyd..þat I was ledd To durham.

1854 S. T. Dobell Balder xiv. 58 In the night..Methought I stood within this room..and medreamed I stood Robed like a necromancer.

1962 L. M. Hollander tr. Poetic Edda (ed. 2) 245 Me dreamed, Gunnar, a gruesome dream.

2. To have a dream or dreams.

a. intransitive. With of, about, †on.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [verb (intransitive)]

swevenc1000

metec1300

dreama1325

to be adreamed1556

a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2067 Good is..to dremen of win.

a1425 (?a1350) Seven Sages (Galba) (1907) 3285 (MED) Þis lady was þe same Þat he had so dremyd of at hame.

1562 W. Bullein Bulwarke of Defence 22^v If they doe dreame of Fyre, to take it for no euill presage of strife.

1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. iv. 74 She gallops..O're Ladies lips, who dreame on kisses strait.

1602 T. Dekker Blurt Master-Constable sig. F3^v Ile fall to sleepe, And dreame of her, loue-dreames are nere too deepe.

1660 J. S. Andromana iii. vi. sig. F2 There's not a Lady in the land but sighs with passion for him, And dreams on him anights.

1734 J. Jacob tr. J. Barclay Adventures Poliarchus & Argenis iii. 134 I could not rest for dreaming about her all Night.

1787 Daily Universal Reg. 25 Jan. 3/3 A farmer..was waked in the middle of the night by his wife, who..had dreamed of the man who had stolen their poultry.

1865 E. B. Tylor Res. Early Hist. Mankind i. 8 The object dreamt of.

1875 A. Swinbourne Pict. Logic v. 40 I actually dreamt about Logic again.

1934 J. Stuart Man with Bull-tongue Plow 205 One night I dreamed of thorny wild rose banks Far back among the Greenup County hills.

1988 P. Barber Vampires, Burial, & Death 184 In European folklore..the dream was viewed as a visit from the person dreamed about.

1997 Sunday Times 26 Oct. (Mag.) 82/4 I always dream about shoes, and sometimes I wake up..in the middle of the night because the designs are so good.

b. intransitive. Without prepositional phrase as complement.

ΚΠ

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Nun's Priest's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 192 Thus twies in his slepyng dremed he.

c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 42 Or yf that spiritis haue the myght To make folke to dreme a-nyght.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms cxxv[i]. 1 Then shal we be like vnto them that dreame.

1578 W. Hunnis Hyue Full of Hunnye xl. f. 99^v It happened that both these men in one Night beyng sad In sleepe did Dream, and ech Mans Dreame a sundry meaning had.

1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. i. 67 To sleepe, perchance to dreame, I there's the rub.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iii. 514 Jacob..Dreaming by night under the open Skie.

1726 D. Defoe Polit. Hist. Devil ii. iii. 217 To dream, is nothing else but to think sleeping.

1780 J. Brett tr. B. J. Feijóo y Montenegro Ess. IV. 57 When we sleep and dream, we are under the..persuasion that we are awake.

1837 H. T. Colebrooke Misc. Ess. I. 339 While a man sleeps without dreaming, his soul is with Brahme.

1855 O. W. Holmes Poems 235 Where bovine rustics used to doze and dream.

1913 L. Chadwick Baseball Joe at Yale vii. 61 ‘It's made of cheese, isn't it?’ ‘And other stuff. Great for making you dream.’

2000 Cosmopolitan (Cape Town) Oct. 131/1 When you dream, your mind isn't distracted by the zillion and one activities you're normally tackling.

3. To see, hear, or feel (something) in a dream.

a. transitive. With simple (frequently indefinite) object.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [verb (transitive)]

meteOE

seea1325

dreamc1390

somniate1657

c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. ix. l. 60 (MED) Þe Meruiloste Meetynge Mette I me þenne, Þat euere dremede driht In drecchynge.

c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xxii. l. 1 (MED) Ich awakede and wrot what ich hadde dremed.

a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 295 (MED) He went to bedde and tooke a slep And dremyd this.

1518 H. Watson tr. Hystorye Olyuer of Castylle xx. sig. E.i^v Olyuer lyfte vp his heed whan he herde his name pronounced, and wyst not whether that he hadde dremed it, or not.

1532 Romaunt Rose in Wks. G. Chaucer f. cxxviii/1 That dremen in her slepe a nyghtes Ful many thynges couertly.

1577 W. Fulke Overthrow & Confut. Doctr. Purgatory ii. x. 334 in Two Treat. against Papistes Let him not saye it is therefore true, because..this our brother or that our sister sawe such a vision waking or dreamed such a vision sleeping, &c.

1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. iv. 52 They [sc. dreamers] doe dreame things true.

1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII iii. i. 134 One that ne're dream'd a Ioy, beyond his [sc. her Husband's] pleasure.

1653 D. Osborne Lett. to Sir W. Temple (2002) xxi. 96 It may bee I dreampt it.., or else it was one of the Resvery's of the Ague.

1700 J. Dryden To Dutchess of Ormond in Fables sig. A4^v The Macedon, by Jove's Decree, Was taught to dream an Herb for Ptolemee.

1726 D. Defoe Polit. Hist. Devil ii. iii. 217 He brought her to dream whatever he put into her Thoughts.

1813 ‘Æditus’ Metrical Remarks 32 The droning Priesthood slumber'd in their stalls, Nor dreamt the storm, which shook their fabrics' walls.

1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam ci. 156 On that last night..I dream'd a vision of the dead.

1932 Boys' Life June 42/3 Indians..would go to sleep with the thought firmly fixed in their minds that they must dream something worth while.

1983 D. Duane So you want to be Wizard? 36 She might have dozed off and dreamed the talking tree.

2007 A. Theroux Laura Warholic xxviii. 410 Had he dreamt it, wondered Eugene.

b. transitive. With clause, esp. that-clause, as object.

ΚΠ

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 2901 I dreme..That I al one with hire mete.

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Nun's Priest's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 323 Andromacha Ectores wyf..dremed..How þ^t the lyf of Ector sholde be lorn.

c1450 King Ponthus (Digby) in Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. (1897) 12 113 I dremed this nyght that I become a grete blak wolfe.

?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1872) IV. 353 Sche dremede [L. somniavit..quod] that sche had childed a wickede son.

a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 157 I dremed ane angell came fra hevin.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Gen. xl. B I dreamed that there was a vyne before me,..and the grapes therof were rype.

1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iii. xxxii. 196 He dreamed that God spake to him.

1696 T. D'Urfey Comical Hist. Don Quixote: 3rd Pt. iii. ii. 34 Let him but dream that he's regaling with Buttock Beef, Bacon, Brewis, and such like.

1702 W. Freke Gen. Idea Allegorick Lang. ii. 34 You dream that..your Servant meets you walking in your Hall.

a1767 Sir Aldingar xix, in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ballads (1885) II. iii. 45/1 I dreamed a grype and a grimlie beast Had carryed my crowne away.

1816 P. B. Shelley Alastor 11 He dreamed a veiled maid Sate near him.

1829 Athenæum 3 June 346/3 And then he dreamed how forth he sprang A warrior child on rushing wings.

1907 K. D. Wiggin New Chron. Rebecca iii. 78 Last night I dreamed that the river was ink.

2000 Z. Sardar Consumption Kuala Lumpur 173 That night Salam dreamt that his father had become a tiger.

c. transitive. With cognate object.Also (chiefly in 19th cent. archaic use) with reflexive pronoun me (me pron.¹ 4) as indirect object (cf. quot. 1628 at sense 4a).

ΚΠ

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 3285 (MED) Whan so is That I mai cacche Slep on honde..thanne I fonde To dreme a merie swevene er day.]

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 18985 Yur eldrin men sal dremes dreme.

a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 41 The kynge dremed a mervaylous dreme.

a1500 Liber Pluscardensis (Marchm.) (1877) I. 388 Lik till a dreme that we had dremyt yeistreyn.

?1506 Thystorye vii. Wyse Maysters Rome (new ed.) sig. Fi^v The vii maysters made & ordeyned through out thempyre, that yf ony man had dremed a dreme he sholde come vnto them.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection ii. sig. Kvi The holy seruauntes of god dremeth holy dremes.

1698 T. Hearne Ductor Historicus I. iii. ii. 260 He dreamed a Dream of the Four Monarchies, which Daniel explained.

1751 J. Painter Oxf. Dream i. 5 Soon after droping [sic] asleep, I dreamed a Dream.

1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake ii. 85 There are who have, at midnight hour..Dreamed calmly out their dangerous dream.

1827 Ant 11 Aug. 199 I dreamed me a dream: O methought the pale rose, [etc.].

1952 P. Wheeler tr. Sacred Script. Japanese 140 In his dwelling by night he dreamed a dream in which there appeared a lady holding the cords of a weaving machine and a reeling stick.

2005 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 7 Apr. 72/1 In ancient Greece the dream master stood above your head while you slept on the ground, and dreamed the dreams that were conveyed to you.

a. transitive. To imagine or envisage as if in a dream; to have a vision or fantasy of. Now chiefly: to think or daydream about (something greatly desired); to hope or long for. Also with reflexive pronoun me (me pron.¹ 4) as indirect object (now archaic). Cf. sense 3c.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > imagine or visualize [verb (transitive)]

seeOE

thinkOE

bethinkc1175

devise1340

portraya1375

imagec1390

dreama1393

supposea1393

imaginea1398

conceive?a1425

fantasyc1430

purposea1513

to frame to oneselfa1529

'magine1530

imaginate1541

fancy1551

surmit?1577

surmise1586

conceit?1589

propose1594

ideate1610

project1612

figurea1616

forma1616

to call up1622

propound1634

edify1645

picture1668

create1679

fancify1748

depicture1775

vision1796

to conjure up1819

conjure1820

envisage1836

to dream up1837

visualize1863

envision1921

pre-visualize1969

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > hope > [verb (intransitive)]

hightOE

hope971

tristc1200

dreama1393

set1607

to have one's fingers crossed1895

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iii. l. 51 (MED) Al wakende, I dreme and meete That I with hire al one meete.

?c1425 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Cambr. Ii.3.21) (1886) iii. pr. iii. 54 Ye men þat ben Erthely[c]he beestes dremen alwey yowre bygynnynge, Al thowgh it be with a thynne Imagynacyon.

1628 R. Markham Descr. I. Burgh 5 That though I waking was..I dreamt me thoughts of voyces that did cry.

1819 P. B. Shelley Rosalind & Helen 33 Alas! all hope is buried now. But then men dreamed the agèd earth Was labouring in that mighty birth.

1855 M. Arnold Faded Leaves in Poems 2nd Ser. 136 Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth, Come now, and let me dream it truth.

a1918 D. S. Shorter Sixteen Dead Men (1919) 44 O, proud was my heart as I dreamed me a dream, I would wed him to fortune when he grew a man.

1986 H. Kretzmer tr. A. Boublil & J.-M. Natel in Cameron Mackintosh presents Les Misérables 4 I dreamed a dream in time gone by, When hope was high and life worth living.—I dreamed that love would never die.

2009 R. Rymer Susannah x. 99 I dreamed that he would be willing to move to Chicago..and we could practice law together.

b. intransitive. To indulge in fantasies or reveries; to daydream about something. Now chiefly: to have a vision of the future; to hope or long for something. Frequently with of, about.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > daydream or reverie > indulge in daydreams [verb (intransitive)]

dream?c1400

saunterc1475

dump1530

to go (run, be) wool-gathering1553

to gather wool1577

reverie1832

reverize1836

Alnascharize1840

daydream1899

mice1984

?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) iii. pr. i. l. 1727 Thilke verray welefulnesse..of whyche thynge [prob. read thyn, L. tuus] herte dremeth.

1533 J. Gau in tr. C. Pedersen Richt Vay To Rdr. sig. Aii^v Thay thocht and dremit efter thair aune heid.

1579 L. Tomson tr. J. Calvin Serm. Epist. S. Paule to Timothie & Titus 877/2 Let vs not dreame vpon rest, to say, we shall be at our ease.

1595 J. Edwardes in C. M. Ingleby & L. T. Smith Shakespeare's Cent. Prayse (1879) 17 Poets that divinely dreampt.

1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 166 He also dreaming after the empire.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 175 Dream not of other Worlds.

1796 G. Walker Theodore Cyphon I. xii. 189 That weakness of judgment, which loses itself in romanticity,..and dreams all day of love in a cottage.

1822 ‘B. Cornwall’ Julian the Apostate in Poet. Wks. ii. 114 That inward languishment of mind, which dreams Of some remote and high accomplishment.

1895 Bookman Oct. 20/2 One who..has been dreaming of future triumphs.

1926 G. B. Shaw Transl. & Tomfooleries iii. 191 I dreamed and romanced: imagining things as I wanted them, not as they really are.

1967 Nation's Restaurant News 18 Dec. 9 (advt.) Its combination of sky-high profits and record-breaking volume is the kind you dream about.

2011 Independent 25 June (Mag.) 22/1 I have always dreamed of working behind the cosmetics counter in a department store's beauty hall.

a. transitive. Originally: to believe (something false). Later (now chiefly): to think or believe (something implausible or unlikely) to be true or possible; to consider, contemplate; to entertain the thought of. Now chiefly in negative or interrogative constructions with clause as object, as I (etc.) never dreamed that ——, who would have dreamed that ——?.

ΚΠ

a1425 (?c1384) J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 355 Ȝit eche preest..shulde have power to do good..but not so myche as here is dremed.

1535 J. Husee Let. 11 Dec. in Lisle Papers (P.R.O.: SP 3/12/63) f. 69^v He that shewed your ladiship that Mr. Basset was at London I thinck dremyd the same by the way, assuryng your ladiship that he was not here syns Bartholomew tyde.

1577 T. Vautrollier tr. M. Luther Comm. Epist. to Galathians (new ed.) f. 260 The Papistes dreamed that this commaundement belongeth onely to their Cleargymen.

1581 J. Marbeck Bk. Notes & Common Places 197 They are farre out of the waie, that dreame in the mysticall bread and wine, a bodilie presence.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) iii. iii. 81 Nor Cymbeline dreames that they are aliue.

1617 Sir J. Fitzedmond in Lismore Papers (1887) 2nd Ser. II. 83 I neuer thought or dreamed the like to doe.

1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 165 [We] never dreamt that there was any thing of value within it.

a1718 H. Needler Wks. (1724) 58 This strange Eclipse, against Heav'n's sacred Laws, Astronomers admire, but little dream the Cause.

1782 W. Cowper Progress of Error in Poems 71 Some dream that they can silence when they will The storm of passion.

1856 Peterson's Mag. Dec. 377/1 I would have told you before if I had dreamed that you cared for me, Harry.

1892 E. Arnold Potiphar's Wife 96 That purple-winged hen-starling..Flies with a fat grub to her nested darling, Nor dreams to pouch it!

1922 Daily Mail 3 Nov. 15 I never dreamt the little blighter would go off in such a hurry.

1987 E. E. Smith Miss Melville Returns (1988) iv. 25 Who would have dreamed that the weedy, rather obnoxious adolescent could have developed into this suave, distinguished-looking scholar.

2003 Adirondack Life Nov. 25/3 Northup never dreamed he was in danger.

b. intransitive. With of, †on in same sense. I (etc.) would not (also never) dream of (doing something): I (etc.) have no intention of (acting in that way).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > form conception [verb (intransitive)]

dreama1538

to conceive of1570

conceit1589

idea1844

ideate1862

the mind > mental capacity > belief > speculation > engage in speculation [verb (intransitive)]

dreama1538

venture1559

speculatea1677

problemize1844

ideologize1846

a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 25 Jugyd happy & fortunate..though he never dreme of vertue.

1588 ‘M. Marprelate’ Oh read ouer D. Iohn Bridges: Epist. 29 Weapons, whereof they neuer once drempt.

1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. B3 Vnstaind thoughts do seldom dream on euill.

1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. v. 169 There are more things in heauen and earth Horatio, Then are Dream't of, in your philosophie.

a1641 R. Montagu Acts & Monuments (1642) 539 This is..not so much as dreamed on by Baronius.

1712 E. Budgell Spectator No. 506. ¶12 She has discovered..accomplishments in herself, which she never before once dreamed of.

1754 R. O. Cambridge Intruder 12 'Twas a plan I never dreamt on.

1766 G. Colman & D. Garrick Clandestine Marriage iv. 58 Thou art always dreaming of my intrigues, and never seest me badiner, but you suspect mischief.

1817 W. Godwin Mandeville II. vi. 115 Mine was pure, simple, undefecated rage, that did not dream of controling itself.

1884 G. Allen Philistia I. 167 I wouldn't dream of going to live in the place.

1914 Daily Express 2 Sept. 3/1 We were all beat up after four days of the hardest soldiering you ever dreamt of.

1985 D. Lucie Hard Feelings i. iii, in Progress & Hard Feelings 62/2 Rusty Look, don't put me off while I'm doing it, will you? Annie Wouldn't dream of it.

2010 Observer 17 Jan. (Mag.) 51/1 The sort of things they would never dream of telling their mothers about.

a. intransitive. Originally: to act as if in a dream; to behave idly, apathetically, or listlessly; to procrastinate. Now (chiefly in progressive tenses): to be lost in a daydream or reverie; to be distracted or preoccupied. Also with away, †on. Sometimes overlapping with or coloured by sense 4b.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > inaction > disinclination to act or listlessness > be listless or lethargic [verb (intransitive)]

slumberc1380

dream1548

vegetate1740

moon1763

stagnate1774

maunder1775

Dianize1834

veg1979

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > drowsiness > be or become drowsy [verb (intransitive)]

nodc1425

dow1502

dream1548

drowse1598

winka1616

doze1693

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. clxij^v He mindyng no lenger to dreame in his waightie matter, nor to kepe secrete his right and title.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccxxxi^v The Frenche kyng dremyng, and waityng like a Foxe for his praie.

a1649 T. Shepard Parable Ten Virgins (1660) ii. i. 11 I am perswaded the reason why men walk in their sleep, and go dreaming up and down the world, is this, they consider not..; what do I?

1732 B. Franklin Pennsylvania Gaz. 17–24 July 2/1 Mr. Crownhim..is always dreaming over the Checquer-board.

1770 A. Young Rural Oeconomy viii. 303 What an immense undertaking must all this appear to a man, who, for forty years, has never stirred out of a beaten track, but dreamt on in the sleep of his forefathers.

1837 Southern Lit. Messenger June 353/1 I grew sick of service.., And came to dream through life.., Forgetful of the old lure of ambition.

1931 E. Bliss Saraband i. 11 She's always dreaming. I think she lives in a world of her own.

1979 N. Mailer Executioner's Song (1980) i. xviii. 304 On the drive back to Springville, she was dreaming away and got in a wreck.

2012 M. Hope Daughter's Gift 37 Elizabeth Nelson, will you stop dreaming and get on with your work?

†b. transitive. To do (something) idly like someone in a dream. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > be careless or heedless of [verb (transitive)] > do as in a dream

dream1548

1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccxxxvii^v In all hast possible, Peter not sluggyng, nor dreamyng his busines, came [etc.].

c. intransitive. figurative. Chiefly poetic. Of light, mist, the sun, etc.: to move lightly or softly; to hover or hang as if drowsily or dreamily.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > support > absence of support > be unsupported [verb (intransitive)] > be held up without support

hangc1175

hovec1220

hover1578

to hang on the trip1681

poise1818

dream1828

balance1833

pendulize1869

1828 R. Montgomery Universal Prayer 44 Mournful glimmers of the mellow sun Lie dreaming on the walls!

1842 Ld. Tennyson Vision of Sin in Poems (new ed.) II. 213 A sleepy light upon their brows and lips—As when the sun, a crescent of eclipse, Dreams over lake and lawn.

1852 M. V. Fuller Fresh Leaves from Western Woods (1860) 99 She slumbered on the glowing sofa in her snowy dress, with the rich light dreaming around her.

1858 N. Hawthorne French & Ital. Jrnls. II. 284 Mist..dreamed along the hills.

1907 D. S. Shorter Coll. Poems 194 A feathered choir in the leafy heights are singing A farewell to the West where the evening sun dreams low.

2002 J. F. Deane Undertow (2009) 216 There was a great space of sky above, silver-blue and grey, the light beginning to fade, grey clouds dreaming lazily in their own easiness.

7. transitive (reflexive). To bring oneself into a specified condition by dreaming or fantasizing. Also: to bring oneself into an imagined condition, place, etc., in a dream or fantasy.

ΚΠ

1629 S. Austin Vrania 31 When the morning-bell With dolefull tollings newly gan to tell That it was foure; it was my happy chance To dreame my selfe into this following Trance.

1677 T. Rawlins Tom Essence i. 7 When I am in bed, I may dream my self into a passion which may enable me more vigorously to express my Love to morrow.

1714 R. Hunter Androboros ii. iv. 18 I'm sure he has had the Art to Dream himself into Notions every whit as Absurd.

1720 T. Gordon Humourist II. 28 Having dreamed himself into this Importance, [etc.].

1827 R. H. Froude in Remains (1838) I. 221 I hope..that I may dream myself among lakes and mountains.

1876 Ld. Tennyson Harold i. ii. 31 Aldwyth. Good-night, and dream thyself Their chosen Earl. Morcar...Who knows I may not dream myself their king!

1920 Lady Gregory Visions & Beliefs West of Ireland‎ I. iv. 250 Once the soul escapes from the natural body.., it..can transform itself as it please or even dream itself into some shape it has not willed.

1992 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 23 Aug. (Sunday Punch) 6 Most of my dreams are spine-chilling. I dream myself into all kinds of trouble.

2006 L. Welsh Bullet Trick (2007) 58 The red velvet seats where theatregoers dream themselves onto the stage.

Phrases

P1. dream on: (in imperative) ‘keep on dreaming’, ‘carry on deluding yourself’; (now chiefly as a humorous or ironic comment on an aspiration thought unlikely to be fulfilled): ‘you might wish it, but in vain’; ‘some hope’ (cf. in your dreams at dream n.² and adj. Phrases 8).

ΚΠ

1759 A. Murphy Orphan of China ii. 15 Dream on, deluded tyrant; yes, dream on In blind security.

1859 Central Wisconsin (Wasau) 24 Mar. 1/6 ‘I want..a gentle, innocent, lily-bell sort of a creature, who will make me a wife..[but] I don't know myself what she is to be like.’ ‘Well, dream on, Frank; you are full of such odd, ridiculous notions, that it would be useless for us to try and convert you.’

1930 F. Eastman Tinker 42 Jack: Here's what I see: a motor-cycle right now..—next summer Lake George and a motor boat—and then next autumn College!..David (laughing): Dream on! Dream on!

1962 ‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed v. 41 ‘Dream on!’ I said... ‘What tells you I ever had a cooking spoon?’

1988 J. McInerney Story of my Life vi. 106 Dean doesn't mind leaving early, though, because he thinks he's getting nooky. Dream on babe.

2004 J. Burchill Sugar Rush (2005) 209 I expect you're waiting for some sort of erotic-neurotic grand finale... Well, dream on.

P2. to dream the impossible dream: to pursue or achieve a grand scheme or ambition in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds; to risk all in pursuit of one's most cherished hope or aspiration; also (in later use) as a slogan.The phrase was popularized by the song The Impossible Dream (1965) (from the musical Man of La Mancha), based on the opening lines of a speech from the play I, Don Quixote (1959) by Dale Wasserman (1914–2008), who also wrote the musical. Cf. impossible dream n. at impossible adj. and n. Additions.

ΚΠ

1885 E. Carpenter Towards Democracy 126 These are they who dream the impossible dream—and it comes true.

1959 D. Wasserman in Washington Post 8 Nov. g3/3 ‘I, Don Quixote’ may be best expressed in the creed I have written for the Knight of the Sad Countenance to speak: To dream the impossible dream, To fight the unbeatable foe.

1965 J. Darion Impossible Dream (sheet music) 2 To dream the impossible dream, To fight the unbeatable foe.

1968 NEA Handbk. 1967–8 (National Educ. Assoc. U.S.) 7 I urge you and every teacher to join me in this vigorous, arduous, challenging quest. Let's dream the impossible dream.

1972 Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) 6 Oct. 17/8 Green Bay dreamed the impossible dream a week ago, defeating the Dallas Cowboys.

2002 J. White Meth. Success (2010) vi. 37 Dream the impossible dream... Visualize the person you want to become... You can be whatever you can conceive.

Phrasal verbs

With adverbs in specialized senses. to dream away

transitive. To pass, spend, or waste (time, one's life, etc.) in dreaming or reverie. Also: to make (time) pass more quickly by dreaming.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > spending time > spend time or allow time to pass [verb (transitive)] > in some activity > in sleep or dreaming

sleep1565

to dream away1600

sleep1623

doze1693

drowse1843

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > drowsiness > make drowsy [verb (transitive)] > pass away (time) drowsily

to dream out1579

drowse1598

to dream away1600

doze1693

1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream i. i. 8 Fower nights will quickly dreame away the time.

1693 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §116. 142 Whether he lazily and listlessly dreams away his time.

1781 W. Cowper Retirem. 467 To cross his ambling pony day by day, Seems at the best but dreaming life away.

1822 C. Lamb in London Mag. July 33/1 I dream away my life in others' speculations.

1889 J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat i. 9 I..suggested that we should seek out some retired and old-world spot.., and dream away a sunny week among its drowsy lanes.

1915 Psychol. Clinic 15 Dec. 11 A domestic certificate..permits her to sit in her slovenly home and dream away the hours undisturbed.

1977 V. Setchkarev in A. Kingsford Introd. Russ. Lang. & Lit. (1981) vi. 158 An idealist who dreams his life away.

2005 Palm Beach Life Spring 42 (caption) If you visit in off-season..you can snag a bench along the water to dream the day away.

† to dream forth

Obsolete. rare.

transitive. To relate (something) false or imagined. With indirect object.

ΚΠ

1543 G. Joye George Ioye confuteth Winchesters Articles f. vi But Win. dreaming vs forthe his newe fayned faith cowplethe her to an externe knowlege of [etc.].

to dream out

Now rare.

1. transitive. To plan, devise, think up; to imagine or envisage in or as in a dream. Cf. to dream up at Phrasal verbs.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > inventive or creative faculty > contrive, devise, or invent [verb (transitive)]

findeOE

conceive1340

seek1340

brewc1386

divine1393

to find outc1405

to search outc1425

to find up?c1430

forgec1430

upfindc1440

commentc1450

to dream out1533

inventa1538

father1548

spina1575

coin1580

conceit1591

mint1593

spawn1594

cook1599

infantize1619

fabulize1633

notionate1645

to make upc1650

to spin outa1651

to cook up1655

to strike out1735

mother1788

to think up1855

to noodle out1950

gin1980

1533 T. More 2nd Pt. Confut. Tyndals Answere iv. p. ix This electe chyrche of Tyndals descrypcyon..can not onely do no good, but is also dremed out by hym to do myche harme.

1543 J. Bale Yet Course at Romyshe Foxe sig. C.v Hygh treason ageynst yowr holye father agapitus popett of Rome, whych fyrst dreamed it out, and enacted it for a lawdable ceremonye.

a1652 R. Brome City Wit i. i. sig. B, in Five New Playes (1653) So, now will I meditate, take a nap, and dreame out a few fancies.

1794 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1956) I. 67 The time which I should have bestowed on the academic studies, I employed in dreaming out wild Schemes of impossible extrication.

1847 Knickerbocker Jan. 14 Give me the unconquerable will.., the grasp of restless energy which never stops..to fall asleep in order to dream out the gorgeous future.

1930 E. Pound Draft of XXX Cantos v. 21 And all of this, runs Varchi, dreamed out beforehand In Perugia.

1935 Punch 4 Sept. 262/2 The man who has a clearly formed ambition, who has dreamed out an ideal which his whole personality [etc.].

2. transitive. To waste by dreaming; to pass or spend (time, one's life, etc.) in dreaming or reverie. Cf. to dream away at Phrasal verbs.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > drowsiness > make drowsy [verb (transitive)] > pass away (time) drowsily

to dream out1579

drowse1598

to dream away1600

doze1693

1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 921 Fortune layd it vpon him, and therefore bad him goe thorow withall, and not to dreame it out losing oportunitie [Fr. laisser perdre les occasions en trop dilayant].

1645 T. Shepard Sound Beleever ii. 9 Consider this all you that dreame out your time in minding only things before your feet, never thinking on the evills of your owne hearts.

1687 J. Dryden Hind & Panther iii. 98 Whether [swallows] dream the winter out in caves below.

1853 Working Man's Friend 1 Jan. 220/1 The flowers, Fresh with the heavy summer dew, Dream out the solitary hours.

1998 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 5 Dec. 13 I stopped at the old folks home..where some of the oldest surviving islanders dream out their days.

to dream up

transitive. Originally: to imagine or envisage in or as in a dream. Now chiefly: to devise (an idea, plan, etc., esp. one that is ingenious or fanciful); to invent, think up.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > imagine or visualize [verb (transitive)]

seeOE

thinkOE

bethinkc1175

devise1340

portraya1375

imagec1390

dreama1393

supposea1393

imaginea1398

conceive?a1425

fantasyc1430

purposea1513

to frame to oneselfa1529

'magine1530

imaginate1541

fancy1551

surmit?1577

surmise1586

conceit?1589

propose1594

ideate1610

project1612

figurea1616

forma1616

to call up1622

propound1634

edify1645

picture1668

create1679

fancify1748

depicture1775

vision1796

to conjure up1819

conjure1820

envisage1836

to dream up1837

visualize1863

envision1921

pre-visualize1969

1837 Morning Chron. 12 Jan. With our Shakespeare in hand, and bright forms in our brain, we can dream up our Siddons and Kembles again.

1867 B. Brierley Marlocks of Merriton 53 Everything [sc. plants and trees personified] appeared to be dreaming up old memories.

1904 R. E. Young Henderson iii. 81 He..shook himself out of the dream: ‘Oh, you fool!’ he told himself sharply; ‘always dreaming up some smoke-woman, some bachelor's comfort.’

1916 N.Y. Tribune 8 June 11/1 I'd try to dream up some new scheme and never thought I'd do it.

1950 Manch. Guardian Weekly 16 Nov. 3 A slick political trick, such as might have been dreamed up by a bright Chicago wardheeler.

1997 Food & Wine Sept. 73/2 ‘Guido Reni? What made you dream that up?’‘I didn't dream it up,’ said Carlo. ‘It is a Bolognese dish that goes back for generations.’

2004 Daily Tel. 11 Aug. 21/4 Senior officers who..are not obsessed with dreaming up some whizzy new scheme in order to achieve the next rank.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

n.¹eOE

n.²adj.c1300

v.¹OE

v.²c1300

单词	dream
释义	† dreamn.¹ Forms: Old English dram (transmission error), Old English drim (rare), Old English–early Middle English dream, Old English (rare)–Middle English drem, late Old English–early Middle English dræm, early Middle English dreem, early Middle English dreim, Middle English dreme. Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: Cognate with Old Saxon drōm mirth, noise, minstrelsy; further etymology uncertain and disputed (see note). For the possibility that this is the same word as dream n.² compare the discussion at that entry.The underlying West Germanic base was perhaps originally imitative; compare (with similar consonant patterns) the words discussed at drum n.¹ A relationship has also been suggested with either ancient Greek θρῦλος noise as of many voices, murmur, or θρεῖσθαι to cry aloud, shriek (or both), but these are themselves subject to debate and perhaps imitative in origin. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the word is a derivative (with nasal suffix) of the same Germanic base as dree v., with original meaning ‘to follow or serve (as part of a retinue)’, reflected by Old English drēogan to do, perform, carry out, to suffer, Gothic driugan to carry out (a military campaign), and (with different suffix) Old English dryht retinue, army (see dright n.¹); the semantic link in this case would be the social activities of a Germanic leader's retinue. Obsolete. 1. Joy, pleasure, gladness; mirth, rejoicing, jubilation; an instance of this. See also glee-dream n. at glee n. Compounds 3, man-dream n. at man n.¹ Compounds 2a. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > pleasure > joy, gladness, or delight > [noun] merrinesseOE gladnessc900 mirtheOE playeOE dreamOE gladshipc975 lissOE willOE hightOE blithenessc1000 gladc1000 winOE blissc1175 delices?c1225 delight?c1225 joy?c1225 comfortc1230 listc1275 gladhead1303 daintyc1325 fainnessc1340 lightnessa1350 delectationc1384 delightingc1390 comfortationa1400 fainheada1400 blithec1400 fainc1400 delicacyc1405 gladsomeness1413 reveriea1425 joyousitiea1450 joyfulnessc1485 jucundity1536 joyousness1549 joc1560 delightfulness1565 jouissance1579 joyance1590 levitya1631 revelling1826 chuckle1837 joyancy1849 a song in one's heart1862 delightsomeness1866 the mind > emotion > pleasure > merriment > [noun] dreamOE man-dreamOE gleea1200 galec1200 bauderyc1386 oliprancec1390 cheera1393 gaynessc1400 disportc1405 joyousitiea1450 festivitya1500 lakea1500 gaiety1573 merriment1574 jucundity1575 galliardise?1577 jouissance1579 merrymake1579 jolliment1590 mirth1591 jollyhead1596 spleen1598 jocantry16.. geniality1609 jovialty1621 jocundry1637 gaietry1650 sport1671 fun1726 galliardism1745 gig1777 merrymaking1779 hilarity1834 rollick1852 OE Fortunes of Men 79 Sum sceal on heape hæleþum cweman, blissian æt beore bencsittendum; þær biþ drincendra dream se micla. OE Death of Edgar (Parker) 1 Her geendode eorðan dreamas Eadgar, Engla cyning, ceas him oðer leoht. OE Christ & Satan 313 Þær heo mid wuldorcyninge wunian moton awa to aldre, agan dreama dream mid drihtne gode. OE Will of Wulfric (Sawyer 1536) in P. H. Sawyer Charters of Burton Abbey (1979) 55 God ælmihtig hine awende of eallum godes dreame.., se ðe þis awende. c1175 ( Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 202 Swa wace..beoð eorðlice dreames & swa wace beoð eahtæ mid monnum. c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (Royal) (1981) 847 Vre lauerd him seolf com wið engles..wið swuch dream ant drihtfare as drihtin ah to cumene. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 7129 Heo æten heo drunken dræm [c1300 Otho blisse] wes i burhȝen. 2. The sound of a musical instrument or singing voice; music, minstrelsy, melody; singing, a song. Also: noise, din; clamour, lamentation; voice, speech. See also bell-dream n. at bell n.¹ Compounds 2, orgledream n. at orgle n. Compounds. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > [noun] gleec897 mirtheOE dreamOE soundc1330 entunec1369 musica1382 noisec1390 sonnetc1400 cant1704 tonation1728 OE Phoenix 138 Ne magon þam breahtme byman ne hornas, ne hearpan hlyn.., ne ænig þara dreama þe dryhten gescop gumum to gliwe in þas geomran woruld. OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) v. 51 He gehyrde micele stemne on heofonum, swylce bymena dream. OE Rule St. Benet (Corpus Cambr.) xviii. 43 Se æfensang sy dæghwamlice gehendod mid iiii sealma dreame [L. quatuor psalmorum modulatione]. c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 923 Þe belle dræm bitacneþþ ȝuw Þatt dræm þatt ȝuw birrþ herenn. a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 115 (MED) Þe bemene drem þe þe engles blewen. c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (Bodl.) (1981) l. 546 Feire uleð þi muð..ah ich drede þet tis dream me dreaie towart deaðe, as deð meareminnes. ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 158 He schal adomesdei grimliche abreiden wið þe dredfule dream of þe engles bemen. c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 314 Ich singe..Mid fulle dreme & lude stefne. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 507 Muchel folkes dream. c1300 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Cambr.) (1966) l. 37 To hire louerd heo sede wiþ stille dreme. c1330 (?c1300) Bevis of Hampton (Auch.) 1339 (MED) Saber wep and made drem, For he was þe childes em. a1350 in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 51 Þou make me here þi suete dreem. c1450 in K. Sisam 14th Cent. Verse & Prose (1933) 170 (MED) Stark strokes þei stryken on a stelyd stokke..Lus, bus! las, das! rowtyn be rowe: Swech dolful a dreme, þe deuyl it todryue! a1500 (c1400) St. Erkenwald (1977) l. 191 Wyt a drery dreme he dryues owte wordes. c1600 (c1350) Alisaunder (Greaves) (1929) l. 781 Hee chases by enchauntement þe chamber within And with a dragones drem dreew too þe bedde. 3. Frenzy, delirium. Also: demonic possession. Only in wood dream. Cf. widden-dream n. rare.Only in Old English. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > delirium or raving wood dreameOE mazec1300 paraphrenesisa1398 ravinga1398 deliramentc1450 idleness1535 delirium1563 randing1583 calenture1593 deliration1598 taveringa1599 ravery1599 delirement1613 debacchation1633 delirancy1645 deliry1657 deliriousness1671 paraphrenitis1683 paraphrosyne1684 deliracy1689 delirousness1694 paracope1749 paraphora1749 wandering1836 paralerema1848 paraleresis1857 paraphronesis1857 rambling1897 the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > frenzy or raging wood dreameOE frenzyc1340 furor1477 rammistnessc1485 wildnessc1540 willnessc1540 frenzicness1547 frenziness1594 phrenition1642 amok1665 nympholepsy1776 nympholepsia1885 the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > evil spirit or demon > [noun] > familiar or possessing spirit > possession by wood dreameOE demoniacal possession1601 possession1601 obsession1607 pythonism1654 demoniac possession1698 endiablementa1734 endemoniasm1751 demon possession1838 demonic possession1853 spirit possession1854 bedevilment1861 diabolepsy1886 eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) iii. vi. 60 Sume Romana wif on swelcum scinlace wurdon, & on swelcum wodan dreame, þæt hie woldon ælcne mon, ge wif ge wæpned, þara þe hie mehton, mid atre acwellan. OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xxxv. 479 Astriges se indisca cyning þe Bartholomeum ofsloh awedde, & on þam wodan dreame gewat. OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) iii. 27 Sum wif wæs ðe com to Criste, and bæd for hire dehter þe læg on wodum dreame. Compounds dreamcraft n. music. ΚΠ OE Old Eng. Martyrol. (Corpus Cambr. 196) 28 Nov. 258 Astronomia, þæt ys tungla gang, and geometrica, þæt ys eorðgemet, and musica, þæt ys dreamcræft. lOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Bodl.) (2009) I. xvi. 275 Swa gedeð eac se dreamcræft ðæt se mon bið dreamere and se læcecræft þæt he bið læce, and seo racu deð þæt he bið reccere. dream-thirl n. [ < dream n.¹ + thirl n.¹; compare later dream-hole n.] the ear. ΚΠ c1225 (?OE) Soul's Addr. to Body (Worcester) (Fragm. E) l. 30 Ne mostes þu iheren þeo holie dræmes, þeo bellen rungen, [þet u]nker becnunge wæs..ac nu beoþ fordutte þine dreamþurles, ne ihereþ heo [nefr]e more none herunge of þe. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021). dreamn.²adj. Brit. /driːm/, U.S. /drim/ Forms: Middle English dremmes (plural), Middle English–1500s dreem, Middle English–1500s dreeme, Middle English–1500s drem, Middle English–1600s dreame, Middle English–1700s dreme, 1500s– dream; Scottish pre-1700 dramme, pre-1700 dreame, pre-1700 dreim, pre-1700 dreime, pre-1700 dreme, pre-1700 dreym, pre-1700 dreyme, pre-1700 1700s– dream, pre-1700 1800s– drame, 1900s– draem; also Irish English 1800s– drame. Origin: Of uncertain origin. Either (i) a word inherited from Germanic. Or (ii) a borrowing from early Scandinavian. Etymology: Apparently either (i) the reflex of an unattested Old English noun cognate with Old Frisian drām, Middle Dutch droom (Dutch droom), Old Saxon drōm (Middle Low German drōm), Old High German troum (Middle High German troum, German Traum), Old Icelandic draumr, Old Swedish drömber (Swedish dröm), Old Danish, Danish drøm, all in sense ‘dream’; further etymology uncertain and disputed (see note), or (ii) < early Scandinavian (compare the Scandinavian forms listed above, and see note).Possible etymologies. It is unclear whether this is the same word as dream n.¹ If it is the same, the underlying semantic development (in early Germanic) may have led from a sense ‘joy, lively behaviour’ (attested only in Old English and Old Saxon: see dream n.¹) via a notion of ‘ecstasy’ (perhaps compare dream n.¹ 3) to ‘images seen in one's sleep’ (attested in most Germanic languages, including Old Saxon, but not Old English). In this case the sense ‘images seen in one's sleep’ in Middle English is either the result of semantic influence from early Scandinavian or perhaps a survival of a sense that happens not to be recorded in Old English (in which case probably reinforced by association with the early Scandinavian word). Compare the discussion by B. von Lindheim in Rev. Eng. Stud. 25 (1949) 193–209. If it is not the same word as dream n.¹, this word and its Germanic cognates are perhaps derived (with a nasal suffix) < the same Germanic base as Old High German triogan to deceive (Middle High German triegen , German trügen ) and Old Icelandic draugr ghost, apparition, itself < the same Indo-European base as Sanskrit druh , Avestan druj- deceit. In this case, the English word either already existed in Old English, but remained unattested, or it may be a borrowing from early Scandinavian (compare the surviving Scandinavian forms listed above), with substitution of the vowel by analogy with similar Middle English words that were recognized as being cognate with their early Scandinavian counterparts (e.g. stream n., seam n.¹, team n.). Earlier synonyms. In Old English and early Middle English the usual word for ‘dream’ is swefn sweven n.; in Old English also sometimes gesihð i-sight n. or mǣting meting n.¹ Pronunciation history. In early modern English and Older Scots sometimes recorded as rhyming with shame, hame, etc.; compare discussion in E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500–1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II. §115 and A. J. Aitken & C. Macafee Older Sc. Vowels (2002) §20.8.3. This pronunciation is still attested in regional use in Scotland (chiefly east central and in the Northern Isles) and Ireland. A. n.² 1. a. A series of images, thoughts, and emotions, often with a story-like quality, generated by mental activity during sleep; the state in which this occurs. Also: a prophetic or supernatural vision experienced when either awake or asleep. lucid, opium, waking, wet dream; sweet dreams, etc.: see the first element. See also wake and dream at wake n.¹ 1a, see v. 11c. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] swevenc897 metingOE showing?c1225 sweveningc1275 dreamc1300 metels1340 dremels1362 night visiona1382 metreda1393 dreaminga1400 somniation1598 c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) l. 1284 (MED) Of his slep a-non he brayd, And seide..‘A selkuth drem dremede me nou.’ a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 1179 On dreme him cam tiding. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 4605 Bath þi drems ar als an. c1400 (?c1380) Pearl l. 790 (MED) Þe Lambez vyuez in blysse we bene..On þe hyl of Syon..Þe apostel hem segh in gostly drem Arayed to þe weddyng. a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Gen. xli. 22 Y seiȝ a dreem [E.V. sweuen; L. somnium]. ?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 22 He interpretid þe kynges dremes. 1474 W. Caxton tr. Game & Playe of Chesse (1883) i. i. 10 They coude not telle hym his dreme that he had dremed. 1551 W. Turner New Herball 178 Beanes..are harde of digestion, and make troblesum dreames. 1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie Pref. 3 We haue not..permitted things to passe away as in a dreame. a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iv. i. 157 We are such stuffe As dreames are made on. View more context for this quotation 1678 N. Wanley Wonders Little World vi. xxvii. §4. 611/2 I lay still..casting and discoursing with my self, whether I waked or was in a dream. 1750 Bible (Challoner) Dan. ii. 3 I saw a dream: and being troubled in mind I know not what I saw. 1752 S. Johnson Rambler No. 204. ⁋12 Striving, as is usual in dreams, without ability to move. 1842 Ld. Tennyson Locksley Hall in Poems (new ed.) II. 100 Like a dog, he hunts in dreams. 1877 A. B. Edwards Thousand Miles up Nile xxi. 649 It is like a feverish sleep, troubled by gruesome dreams. 1904 Psychol. Bull. 1 357 The theory of Freud, that dreams are disguised realizations of repressed desires. 1963 S. Pines tr. M. Maimonides Guide of Perplexed II. ii. iii. 68 A prophet can only hear in a dream of prophecy that God has spoken to him. 2007 New Yorker 21 May 31/3 Last night, I had a dream that there was a snow snake coming down from a snow mountain to kill me. b. A person seen in a dream or vision; an apparition. Frequently coloured by sense A. 2. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > thing seen > optical illusion > [noun] > an optical illusion > vision or apparition > object seen in dream1562 1562 A. Brooke tr. M. Bandello Tragicall Hist. Romeus & Iuliet f. 76 Much amasde to see in tombe so great a light, She wist not if she saw a dreame, or sprite that walkd by night. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 292 When suddenly stood at my Head a dream . View more context for this quotation 1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess vii. 149 If you be, what I think you, some sweet dream. 1987 W. McPherson Sargasso Sea (1988) iii. 148 I decided to see if you were real and not just a dream. I had to come back to bed to make sure. 2011 K. Irons Seaborne xiii. 152 ‘Are you real?’ she whispered. ‘Or are you a dream?’ 2. Something imagined or invented; a false idea or belief; an illusion, a delusion; (in early use also) †a sham, a pretence (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > deceptive fancy or illusion > [noun] fantasyc1325 fairyc1330 illusionc1374 mazec1390 phantasma1398 dream1489 phantom1557 seeming1576 phantasma1598 fancy1609 hallucinationa1652 phantastry1656 phasm1659 fata Morgana1818 dreamland1832 stardust1906 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > deception by illusion, delusion > [noun] > condition of being deluded delusionc1420 dream1489 illusion1571 hallucinationa1652 phantastry1656 1489 W. Caxton tr. C. de Pisan Bk. Fayttes of Armes i. xvii. sig. Di^v Where this manere of dooyng [sc. building a bridge] shuld seme..harde of dooyng to them that haue not lerned the way therof, that myght say that of suche thingis it is but a dreme [Fr. songe]. 1528 W. Tyndale That Fayth Mother of All Good Workes f. ix^v Where right faith ys, there bringeth she forth good workes, yf ther folowe not good workes, it is no doute but a dreame & an opinion or fained faith. 1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius i. f. 8^v If you had any sparcle of shame or honesty, you would neuer haue defiled your paper with so manifest a lye... Those be yours Osorius your owne drousie dreames. a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) iv. ii. 34 To liue But in a Dreame of Friendship. View more context for this quotation 1669 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. I i. xii. 76 This persuasion, of the Egyptian Tongue..being the old Matrice of the Greek, is but a dream of Kirchers. 1706 D. Defoe Jure Divino iv. 6 This Passive Sham..The Dream of Contradictive Loyalty, Which makes Men suffer first, and then obey. 1798 J. Ferriar Illustr. Sterne ii. 24 The dreams of Rabelais's commentators have indeed discovered a very different intention. 1830 Friend 25 Dec. 81/3 The idea of a muscular, nervous substance is a bold one... Physiologists will show me that it is only a dream of my imagination. 1916 Brick & Clay Rec. 21 Nov. 889/1 The winter-building dull season was not real but a dream. 2008 S. Trimble Bargaining for Eden i. 46 The past is a dream: some of us revel in it, some of us manipulate it. Either way, the truth slips away, to be firmly replaced by myth. 3. a. A vision or hope for the future; (in early use chiefly) a vain hope or idle fantasy; (now also) an ideal, goal, ambition, or aspiration. In early use frequently coloured by sense A. 2.See also daydream n., pipe dream n. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > expectation > hope > aspiration, ambition > [noun] > instance of pretensionc1456 dream1922 1555 R. Eden in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde iii. ix. f. 137 (note) They burie theyr iewels with them. A dreame of an other lyfe after this. 1612 J. Floyd Ouerthrow Protestants Pulpit-Babels i. i. 69 He doth..prophesy of thinges to come; vttering..the dreames and wishes of his vncharitable hart. 1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World vi. 159 We might have been masters not only of those Mines..but of all the Coast as high as Quito... But these may seem to the Reader but Golden Dreams. a1711 R. Bulstrode Misc. Ess. (1715) 134 Utopical Perfection is only an idle Dream of the Donatists. 1786 County Mag. Nov. 173/1 Prediluvians..Deem'd his [sc. Noah's] nautical scheme a fantastical dream. 1850 R. W. Emerson Uses of Great Men in Representative Men i. 1 The search after the great is the dream of youth. 1877 W. W. Fowler Frontier Women (1879) ii. 39 She..cherished no golden dreams of earthly happiness to be realized in that far-off western clime. 1922 London Mercury July 277 He saw and thought big, and expressed his dreams in grandiose Shakespearean productions. 1963 M. L. King I have Dream in J. M. Washington Test. Hope (1991) ii. 219 I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. 1991 Jrnl. Reg. (Medina, N.Y.) 18 Feb. d2/1 For many families, especially those in the lower income brackets, that goal has remained just a dream. 2010 Asian Woman No. 43. 15/2 Get that job, get that man (or woman), achieve that dream. b. spec. With the. A national aspiration or ambition; (now esp.) a way of life considered to be ideal by a particular nation or (in extended use) other group of people (usually specified in a modifying adjective). See also American dream n. at American n. and adj. Compounds 3a. ΚΠ 1743 Country Jrnl. 30 July How much Blood and Treasure has the French Dream of Universal Monarchy cost not only that Nation but all Europe? 1824 European Mag. May 407/2 The imperial dream of power encouraged every thing that ruined the Roman Empire, her triumphs, and her characteristics. 1904 Collier's 7 May 7/3 The old American dream of a magnificent continental sovereignty and hemispheric hegemony. 1931 Notes & Queries 160 107/1 If, in the course of centuries, the Russian dream comes true [etc.]. 1937 L. Bromfield Rains Came i. xxxiii. 144 A ruler who would cherish the dream and carry it a little way farther along the way to fulfilment. 1971 Bulletin (Sydney) 9 Oct. 65/1 Building a weekender for holidays..was an integral part of the Australian dream, like owning a Holden, a Victa lawnmower, and one's own home. 1997 M. Collin & J. Godfrey Altered State vi. 187 Sections of a downcast and disillusioned travelling community started to seek oblivion..as the hippie dream turned sour. 2011 Atlantic Dec. 17/2 Her clients have been going—in pursuit of what might be called the Chinese Dream. c. With preceding genitive: someone or something, esp. a situation, considered to be ideal by a particular type of person. ΚΠ 1891 Cent. Mag. Aug. 498/2 What is he like? What is any young girl's dream like? 1897 R. S. Scott tr. H. de Balzac Daughter of Eve v. 55 The bedroom, in violet, was a young ballet-girl's dream. 1928 People's Home Jrnl. Nov. 3/2 The ultimate facts..will justify the prophet's dream of a warless world. 1932 Punch 23 Nov. 578/3 The author's dream, of course, is to sit back and talk beautiful prose to a beautiful typist with a beautiful cigar going. 1936 M. Mitchell Gone with the Wind xi. 214 He was still a young girl's dream of the Perfect Knight. 1951 Sunday Pict. 21 Jan. 16/3 He's a promoter's dream and has sold £450 worth of tickets for this outing. 1988 Travelling Spring 16/1 Queensland is a varied country indeed.., it's white beaches are a sun-worshipper's dream. 2008 New Yorker 20 Oct. 12/2 This spot seems like the excursioning Manhattanite's dream: an easy commute, an instantly identifiable hipness. 4. a. A state of mind in which a person is or seems to be unaware of his or her immediate surroundings; a daze. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > physical insensibility > dullness of sense perception > [noun] > state of physical stupefaction dazedness1340 excessa1387 stupora1398 stupefaction?a1425 dazingc1522 damp1542 daziness1554 dazzling1581 stupidity1603 stupidity?1615 stupidness1619 stupification1650 dream1717 dazzlement1841 daze1855 dazement1855 lull1856 mazement1901 1717 Censor 19 Mar. 1 Your little Wits, whose distinguishing Talent is Smartness, will say that they think I am always in a Dream. 1818 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. June 273/1 My faculties wrought to such a degree, that I was in a dream all day long. 1883 R. Broughton Belinda III. iii. viii. 46 He rows slowly on in a dream, his eyes intoxicatedly watching that pendent hand. 1933 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Cloud Howe iv. 233 She fell in a dream.., looking up and across the slow-peopled parks. 1989 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 14 Apr. He simply rode out of the ring—and rode and rode. When he snapped out of the dream, he didn't know where he was. 2004 P. Maslowski & D. Winslow Looking for Hero viii. 239 A soldier feels dissociated from the battle, as if he was in a dream or trance floating above the fray. b. A series of (esp. pleasant) thoughts indulged in while awake, often distracting one's attention from the present; a daydream, a reverie. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > daydream or reverie > [noun] castle in Spainc1400 reverie1477 brown studyc1555 castle in the skies1576 castle in the air1579 comedown1583 memento1587 towers in the air1599 daydream1651 dream1732 air castle1786 châteaux in air1793 chateau(x) en Espagne1834 cloud-castle1887 pipe dream1890 fantasy1926 1732 Country Jrnl. 26 Feb. 1/1 I was musing in this Manner, in my great Chair, when I fell into a Dream, or Rêverie, as you please to call it. I imagined that myself and many others, all Tenants to a great Lord, [etc.]. 1819 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 727/1 Tims startled at this simile, but said nothing, and probably relapsed into a dream of the Epping-Hunt, at which the stag is very conveniently made to jump out of..a waggon. 1837 Christian Examiner & Gen. Rev. Sept. 99 So absorbing is the interest of the tale they unfold,..that evermore as we read we relapse into a dream, and are carried along, quite unconscious of ought but the scenes described. 1904 R. E. Young Henderson iii. 81 He..shook himself out of the dream: ‘Oh, you fool!’ he told himself sharply; ‘always dreaming up some smoke-woman, some bachelor's comfort.’ 2008 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 5 Oct. 58 I stumble through the afternoon, lost in dreams about thick slices of rare roast beef, native oysters and smoked salmon. 5. A delightful, excellent, or exceptionally attractive person or thing; an ideal or perfect example of something. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > [noun] > beautiful thing or person fairnesseOE roseOE beautya1425 beauteous1435 lovelyc1450 beautifulness?1574 picturea1645 formosity1652 speciosity1660 vision1823 dream1837 jewel box1846 firecracker1852 beaut1896 1837 M. Boddington Sketches in Pyrenees I. xix. 366 The other [child had] more beauty than I have seen for many a day,—quite a dream of a creature, so delicately put together. 1888 Lady 25 Oct. 374/1 My little dream of a place..such a sweet, select watering-place. 1892 Daily News 2 May 2/1 Attired in a succession of those lovely gowns which enthusiasts delight to describe as ‘a dream’. 1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 8/3 Mother has bought me a dream of a breakfast-coat for my trousseau. 1972 Times 17 Mar. 26/5 (advt.) Absolute dream of a Devonshire thatched house for sale. 1988 A. Hollinghurst Swimming Pool Libr. xii. 281 I followed his gaze to the shirtless figure dancing at the punchbag. ‘Yes, that's Maurice. He's a dream, isn't he.’ 2010 Yachting Monthly Apr. 82/4 This is a very well designed yacht that is a dream to sail. B. adj. (attributive). That is dreamed of or longed for; perfect, ideal. In early use overlapping with Compounds 1b. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > perfection > [adjective] > ideal ideal1609 dreamlike1615 abstract1625 preterpluperfect1652 idealized1810 goldena1817 pluperfect1831 dream1884 fairy-tale-ish1884 dreamy1892 fairy tale1904 pluterperfect1908 fairy story1913 1884 Girl's Own Paper 12 Jan. 229/2 ‘Oh, Essie, It reminds me of our cottage...’ Our little dream cottage. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 6 July 10/1 Mr. Gibson was not slow to grasp the resemblance between his dream-girl and the real. 1911 J. London Let. 30 May (1966) 347 I am building my dream-house on my dream-ranch. 1948 Anchora of Delta Gamma Jan. 25/2 Mountains and ocean, wherever you looked, a really dream city. 1960 Guardian 14 Apr. 12/4 A dream London in which there are fewer cars. 1967 P. G. Wodehouse Company for Henry iv. 66 We got engaged. The family put up a considerable beef..because I wasn't everybody's dream girl. 1998 Australian (Nexis) 2 Oct. 7 That is an absolutely dream run for any government or any treasurer. I mean, talk about falling on your feet. 2011 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 29 Sept. e6/3 His dream job would be event-planning for elderly communities. Phrases P1. Proverb. dreams go by contraries and variants: a dream foreshadows the opposite of what has been dreamed. ΚΠ c1460 (?c1400) Tale of Beryn Prol. l. 108 Comynly of these swevenys þe contrary men shul fynde. 1566 W. Adlington tr. Apuleius .XI. Bks. Golden Asse iv. xxi. f. 43 The visions of the night doo often chaunce contrary [L. tunc etiam nocturnae visiones contrarios eventus nonnumquam pronuntiant].] 1575 P. Beverley Hist. Ariodanto & Ieneura (new ed.) sig. C.i But why should I thus trust in dreames that fansies be of mynde... At least a dreame is contrary. 1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft x. vi. 183 Dreames prooue contrarie. 1673 W. Wycherley Gentleman Dancing-master iv. i Ne'er fear it: dreams go by the contraries. 1762 Guardian 13 July 87 I overheard an unlucky old woman telling her neighbour, that dreams always went by contraries. 1832 London Lit. Gaz. 30 June 404/1 As dreams go by contraries, so Conaghty's perverse vision of matrimonial happiness induced him to select a sposa very excellent internally. 1969 G. Bateson in T. A. Sebeok & A. Ramsay Approaches to Animal Communication 24 Do dreams go by opposites? Is the moral the opposite of what the dream seems to say? 2000 M. Mir in I. J. Boullata Literary Struct. Relig. Meaning Qur’ān viii. 179 And perhaps on occasion Joseph has wondered about the dream he saw in Canaan. ls it true that dreams go by contraries? P2. a (also one's) dream come true: the realization of one's most cherished hopes or aspirations; the achievement of a seemingly impossible goal; something or someone that fulfils a person's idea of perfection. ΚΠ 1803 Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 158/2 If a damsel did a sweet-heart need,..or dream come true,..Here is a wond'rous man would shew her how. 1870 New Monthly Mag. Nov. 552 Dearest,..it is a dream come true. A singular fatality has thrown us together. 1924 Times 22 Oct. 21/2 (advt.) One's first evening..will probably be like a dream come true—jewelled..with African stars, hauntingly perfumed by sub-tropic flowers. 1937 C. Porter In Still of Night in R. Kimball Compl. Lyrics C. Porter (1983) 156 Are you my life-to-be, my dream come true? 2004 Rugby World Feb. 40/2 When I was a kid I was a massive All Blacks fan. It was a dream come true to play against them. P3. love's young dream: see love n.¹ Phrases 9. P4. the——of one's dreams: the person or thing that one has dreamed of or longed for; one's model of perfection. ΚΠ 1824 J. Fellowes Reminiscences 128 A health to the girl of my dreams,..—Bessy! 1846 D. G. Osborne tr. E. Sue Orphan I. xxxviii. 276 At last I have found the man of my dreams. He..only passed by—I know neither his name, nor who he is. 1861 Peterson's Mag. Nov. 369/1 I've seen beautiful, brilliant, accomplished..women; but..I have not found the one little, loving, home woman of my dreams. 1896 Kansas City (Missouri) Star 14 Oct. 8/3 You find yourself..saddled with a house the wrong shape, the wrong size.., bearing but the faintest resemblance to the ideal house of your dreams. 1907 S. M. Düring Disinherited v. 77 It was not the wedding of her dreams,..but a hideous travesty of them, with Sir Peter, silver-haired, sixty-three and suffering from the gout, as bridegroom. 1947 Pop. Mech. July 238/1 (advt.) Have you a flair for youth and beauty? Then the new fine Crosley Convertible is the car of your dreams! 2003 Independent 30 July (Review section) 2/3 [I] arrive at my speed-dating event... I have three minutes to decide whether each date is the man of my dreams. P5. Originally U.S. to live the (also one's) dream (and variants): to achieve the way of life one has dreamed of or longed for; to realize one's hopes and aspirations. ΚΠ 1878 Ballou's Monthly Mag. Jan. 61/2 The two..were living the dream that had blessed them in early youth. 1888 Scribner's Mag. May 324/1 Celia had begun to live her dream: she sat at her lover's table; whatever this life might be for which she had yearned, she was in the midst of it. 1943 Ammunition (United Automobile, Aircraft, & Agric. Implement Workers Amer.) July 18/2 I..am the heart of America: Me, Jake Smith, with a hoe in my hand,..A handful of wheat in my fist for my people... Living the dream and loving it. 1987 K. Thornton Learning to live with Emotions 14 Phil grew up believing he could never live his dream, so he..martyred himself in a job he disliked. 2007 Daily Tel. 12 Dec. 23/2 More and more people behave as if they have some..inalienable right to be rich... Everyone is encouraged to live the dream and count the pennies later. P6. Originally U.S. like a dream: easily, effortlessly, without difficulty; (also) very well, successfully. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > easiness > easy, easily, or without difficulty [phrase] with a wet finger1542 for the whistling1546 like a bird1825 as easy (or simple) as falling (or rolling) off a log1839 without tears1857 like a dream1882 as easy as winking1907 1882 Las Vegas Daily Gaz. 9 Sept. 2/1 The Sherwin and Strahn scheme didn’t work like a dream or a charm, and Governor Sheldon still holds the governor’s three-legged stool down. 1887 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Sentinel 2 May 3/5 The line was built..and for two weeks or a month it worked like a dream. 1894 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Jrnl. 14 Dec. 5/5 I have got hold of an old-time colored ‘auntie’ who cooks like a dream. 1923 I. Gershwin Hot Hindoo in Compl. Lyrics (1993) 34/2 Back in the land where Buddha is all supreme, There's a sweet nautch girl who can dance like a dream. 1949 R. Stout Second Confession (1950) xi. 87 The engine..starts like a dream, warm or cold. 1961 Guardian 28 Nov. 16/2 The Piccadilly one-way system..worked ‘like a dream’ throughout the day. 1996 D. Paterson in H. Ritchie New Sc. Writing 72 The new poem is coming along like a dream. 2004 Canad. Yachting Apr. 32/1 It steers like a dream. P7. in one's wildest dreams and variants: see wild adj. 13a. P8. colloquial (originally U.S.). in your (my, etc.) dreams: (as an ironic or resigned comment on an aim or hope unlikely to be fulfilled) ‘that is highly improbable’; ‘not a chance’; ‘some hope’; cf. dream on at dream v.² Phrases 1. ΚΠ 1976 J. Schumacher Car Wash (final draft screenplay) 58 Goody: I'm gonna get you Chuko... Chuko: In your dreams Pocahontas. 1986 Re: why believe in Religion? in talk.religion.misc (Usenet newsgroup) 9 Oct. Even if every Christian were to magically become an atheist tomorrow (in your dreams, right?), there would still be a loud and quite organized cry against abortion. 1998 C. Worrall Grace xxvi. 264 ‘She's not a goer, then?’.. ‘In my dreams.’ 2000 J. Goodwin Danny Boy iii. 65 Aggressive lads and dressed-up lasses all trying hard to pretend they didn't live in Lincoln. ‘Nah, mate. Just passin through on me way to me London flat, like.’ In your dreams. 2002 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 10 May 15 They reasoned that..they could build up a nice cushion of points, forcing Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello to play catch up in the second half of the season. In their dreams! Compounds C1. a. (a) General attributive (chiefly in sense A. 1a), as dream habit, dream imagery, dream language, dream logic, dream lore, dream play, dream process, dream story, etc. Some of the more established compounds of this type are treated separately. ΚΠ 1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 269 Carpocrates..practised all manner of Magical arts; used..oniropompists, or Dream-artists, [etc.]. 1833 Essex Standard 27 Apr. ‘The Lay Figure’ is a dream-story of horror. a1838 G. Cox tr. F. Otto Hist. Russ. Lit. (1839) 247 He..recorded the emotions of his own past life in the gilded dream imagery of song. 1859 Harper's Mag. Feb. 352/2 She would frequently lay some little toy on my pillow, which she called a dream-charm. 1889 Science 1 Feb. 88/2 The effect of dream-habits upon mental work is also evident. 1897 G. B. Shaw Let. 4 July (1965) I. 779 It sounded at once serious and inexplicable, like a dream-play. 1909 W. James Let. 19 Sept. in R. B. Perry Thought & Char. W. James (1935) II. lviii. 123 I strongly suspect Freud, with his dream-theory, of being a regular halluciné. 1913 A. A. Brill tr. S. Freud Interpretation of Dreams vi. 402 The dream activity makes use of the displacement of psychic intensities up to the transvaluation of all psychic values. 1916 D. H. Lawrence Amores 27 The dream-stuff is molten and moving mysteriously. 1925 S. Lewis Arrowsmith xxvi. 279 He hates pseudo-scientists, guess-scientists—like these psycho-analysts; and worse than those comic dream-scientists he hates [etc.]. 1935 Amer. Mercury Aug. 436/1 [James] Joyce..is, throughout Work in Progress, assaying a dream language. 1944 Mind 53 179 The imagery-world into which we pass..is just the way the dream-process..presents itself. 1996 D. F. Wallace Supposedly Fun Thing I'll never do Again (1997) 200 The movie's surrealism and dream-logic. 2006 J. Belanger & K. Dalley Nightmare Encycl. a. 42 The largest and most complete compilation of dream lore to survive from the ancient world is the Oneirocritica..of Artemidorus. (b) dream analysis n. ΚΠ 1865 A. H. Grant Lit. & Curiosities Dreams I. i. v. 76 (heading) Dream-analysis. 1910 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 21 311 He [sc. Freud]..found in dream analysis..a great aid to the treatment of neuroses. 2000 P. Thompson Voice of Past (ed. 3) v. 175 The specific techniques of free association and dream analysis are not part of this therapeutic approach. dream consciousness n. ΚΠ 1886 Star (St. Peter Port, Guernsey) 16 Sept. The facts, or phenomena..of our dream consciousness at once show themselves to us, invested with an importance which before did not attach to them. 1917 D. H. Lawrence in Seven Arts Mar. 443 The thin, transparent membrane of her sleep, her overlying dream-consciousness. 2009 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 122 30/1 The organized and selective nature of dream consciousness. dream content n. ΚΠ 1901 Jrnl. Mental Sci. 47 371 We have to distinguish between the apparent dream-content and the latent dream-content. 1971 U. K. Le Guin Lathe of Heaven (1973) ii. 27 He had not been sure hypnosuggestion would work on dream content in a first hypnosis. 2011 F. Brady Endgame iii. 56 Freud held that dream content usually consists of material garnered from incidents, thoughts, images, and emotions experienced during or preceding the day of the dream. dream experience n. ΚΠ 1838 T. De Quincey in Tait's Edinb. Mag. June 360/1 The dreams had been composed slowly..according to the accidental prevalence..of the separate elements of such dream in my own real dream-experience. 1910 W. James in Jrnl. Philos. 7 90 I woke again two or three times before daybreak with no dream-experiences. 2008 Anthropologica 50 77/1 Occasions..when dream experiences and narratives are shared. dream interpretation n. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > study or interpretation of oneirocriticism1614 oneirocritics1614 oneiromancy1650 oneirocritic1744 oneirology1818 dream interpretation1846 oneiroscopy1887 oneirocrisy1976 1846 L. M. Child Fact & Fiction 168 The shadow of the dream interpretation [was] still resting on their souls. 1913 A. A. Brill tr. S. Freud Interpretation of Dreams ii. 102 If the method of dream interpretation here indicated is followed, it will be found that the dream really has meaning. 2011 Titusville (Pa.) Herald 15 Jan. 7/2 There are many scholarly endeavours aimed at gaining insight into our psyche and our relationships through dream interpretation. dream life n. ΚΠ 1837 H. McCormac Philos. Human Nature ii. xv. 137 During our dream-life..we possess a faculty of which we are destitute when awake. 1909 W. James in Proc. Amer. Soc. Psychical Res. 3 586 The will to personate may fall outside of the medium's own dream-life. 1993 H. Gardner Creating Minds iii. 73 The impetus of the dream arises in the unconscious system, where the dream wish is harbored;..at night.., it erupts into the dream life. dream state n. ΚΠ 1841 C. S. Henry tr. L. E. M. Bautain Epitome Hist. Philos. I. 30 The images which man perceives in the illusion or dream-state [Fr. rève] of the intelligence. 1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 10/1 Such patterns can only persist in a dream state. 2007 51st London Film Festival (British Film Institute programme) 64/1 The hyper-reality of the colours..suggest that they (and we!) are in a dream state. b. With the sense ‘that is seen or experienced in a dream’; ‘that is dreamed about’; (also) ‘that is illusory, unreal, etc., as in a dream’, as dream-child, dream country, dream figure, dream-hall, dream image, dream-kingdom, dream-light, dream scenery, etc. Sometimes coloured by sense B. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > image which appears in phantom1557 phantasma1598 dream vision1702 dream figurec1819 dream imagec1819 dream-picture1840 dream landscape1865 dreamscape1876 c1819 S. T. Coleridge Marginalia (1998) IV. 781 In sleep the Sensations..are the causes of our Dream-images. 1821 Morning Chron. 31 Dec. (advt.) Dream-Children; a Reverie, by Elia. 1834 T. De Quincey S. T. Coleridge in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 511/1 It is very possible..that..he had meditated a poem on delirium, confounding its own dream scenery with external things. 1835 E. S. Wortley Travelling Sketches 35 All shall be mine again! and fitly seen, By pale, pure Dream-light. 1844 E. B. Barrett Poems II. 115 The bird shall be my harper in the dream-hall I have won. 1852 Examiner 13 Nov. 724/3 Compared with such creations [sc. those of Fielding] we too often find in Mr Thackeray's works dream figures only. 1869 G. M. Hopkins Jrnls. & Papers (1959) 194 The dream-images also appear to have little or no projection. 1882 Cent. Mag. Mar. 661/1 These stair-ways still stand, and make a curious picture, breaking in like dream-views of the past upon the busy modern street. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 26 Apr. 8/1 Ariadne, pale and dainty as a dream-flower. 1918 E. Sitwell Clowns' Houses 11 Then, mirage-waters as they flow, Or dream-perfumes, they fade and go. 1925 T. S. Eliot Poems 1909–25 96 Eyes I dare not meet in dreams In death's dream kingdom. 1926 M. Leinster Dew on Leaf 114 Dream-son be all that I shall ever know. 1989 J. Updike Self-consciousness vi. 242 Now the dog heaves in his sleep, woofing at some dream-prey. 2003 S. Feld tr. J. Rouch Ciné-ethnography 132 It was a dream country. The cliffs of Bandiagara were like the cliffs in Salvador Dali's paintings. c. With the sense ‘that is done, carried out, etc., in a dream’, as dream-alliance, dream-change, dream discourse, dream idea, dream-travel, dream wish, etc. ΚΠ 1849 H. Mayo Lett. on Truths Pop. Superstitions vi. 91 He did not hear the loudest sound when it lay out of the circle of his dream ideas. 1850 S. Judd Philo 150 I see the house; it seems in some dream-change, As if it had its substance in enchantment. 1916 Sci. Monthly May 471 The fact that a dreamer may carry on a dream conversation..is proof of highly complex and rationalized activity in sleep. 1920 D. H. Lawrence Lost Girl (1921) i. 13 He recounted his dream-adventures. 1936 Burlington Mag. Aug. 85/1 His dream-wishes should be fulfilled in reality. 1951 S. Spender World within World 310 Reader-writer walk together in a real-seeming dream-alliance leading into gardens inhabited by Stephen Daedalus and Marcel. 1976 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 96 30/1 He made a specialty of dream travel..a fairly obvious way of solving the problems of the transit of interstellar space. 1989 German Q. 62 66/1 His connection to Mathilde is located in the symbiotic primality and timelessness of dream discourse. 2000 P. Wynne & C. E. Hostetter in V. Flieger & C. E. Hostetter Tolkien's Legendarium ii. 129 Arundel Lowdham (whose given name was actually Ælfwine, and who by dream-travel becomes the tenth-century minstrel of the same name) [etc.]. C2. Objective, with agent nouns and present participles, as dream bringer, dream interpreter, dream maker; dream-haunting, dream-inducing, dream-making, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > study or interpretation of > one who studies or interprets dream readera1387 dream doctor1545 dream interpreter?1611 dream-tellera1641 oneirocritica1652 dream-speller1652 oneiropolist1652 oneiromancer1653 oneiromantist1653 oneirocrite1693 oneirologist1834 oneiroscopist1889 the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > interpretation of dreams > [noun] > one who practises readerOE dream readera1387 conjectora1425 dream doctor1545 dream interpreter?1611 conjecturer1612 dream-tellera1641 oneirocritica1652 dream-speller1652 oneiropolist1652 oneiromancer1653 oneiromantist1653 oneirocrite1693 oneiroscopist1727 oneirologist1834 ?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads i. 2 Let vs aske, some Prophet, Priest, or proue Some dreame interpreter [1598 interpretor of dreames, Gk. ὀνειροπόλον]..Why Phoebus is so much incenst? 1650 J. Trapp Clavis to Bible (Gen. xx. i.) 152 Simon Magus had his dream-haunting Devils..his familiars by whom he deluded men in their dreams. 1822 T. Mitchell in tr. Aristophanes Comedies II. 297 (note) The person here satirised seems to have been the diviner and dream-interpreter of that name. 1845 C. Norton Child of Islands 182 Thought, the great Dream-bringer, who joys and grieves Over the visions of her own creating. 1846 Monthly Relig. Mag. May 200 The past is a dream-haunting phantom. 1863 Cornhill Mag. Dec. 755 Work dropped from my hands, and dream-making began. 1918 Open Court Oct. 605 Then dream-loving human nature reasserted itself. 1972 Econ. Bot. 26 348/1 The dream-inducing qualities of plant-derived drugs. 1976 N. Botham & P. Donnelly Valentino xvii. 120 The Olympians of the dream-making industry were exposed as mere mortals. 1986 V. Hearne Adam's Task (1987) xi. 263 Children are encouraged to forget dream-mongering and grow up. 1992 Border Crossings Fall 12/1 Can you imagine what being brought up by an eccentric dream-believer was like? 2008 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 17 Feb. (Front section) 8 (advt.) I'm not just a travel agent. I'm a certified dream maker. I'm the person behind your travel plans. C3. Instrumental, as dream-awakened, dream-based, dream-born, dream-built, dream-created, dream-fed, dream-filled, dream-haunted, dream-ridden, etc., adjectives. ΚΠ 1631 W. Lisle Faire Æthiopian ix. 159 Me thinkes now dreameth this my dreame-borne childe. 1777 R. Potter tr. Æschylus Tragedies 238 Oft as short slumbers close his eyes..The dream-created [Gk. ὀνειρόφαντοι] visions rise. 1793 J. Pollock Lett. to Inhabitants Newry v. 202 Ever-waking avarice, dream-haunted ambition, and the perseveringly restless herd of agitators. 1821 Ld. Byron Marino Faliero (2nd issue) ii. i. 57 Yet a few days and dream-perturbed nights, And I shall slumber well. 1829 R. Montgomery in London Lit. Gaz. 28 Feb. 147/3 In some dream-built palace of the night, Where angel-whispers make the spirit glow. 1836 Morning Post 22 Jan. Even a Whig Government could not be so silly or so shameless as to propound such an object of inquiry, except to a dream-ridden utilitarian, like Mr. Bentham. 1858 Press 29 May 511/3 It is with such tawdry embellishments that a dream-fed imagination decks a very trivial incident. 1899 W. B. Yeats Wind among Reeds 35 Unknown spears Suddenly hurtle before my dream-awakened eyes. 1930 T. S. Eliot Ash-Wednesday 20 The dreamcrossed twilight between birth and dying. 1932 A. MacLeish Conquistador i. 18 We stared as dream-awakened men in wonder. 1938 W. de la Mare Memory & Other Poems 84 Her dream-ridden eyes. 1979 B. Dean Wellspring xiii. 189 I fall into a dream-filled sleep. 2008 New Yorker 23 June 15/1 Its puzzle-like construction, dream-based interludes, and cryptic asides go far beyond the plot. C4. Similative, as dream-bright, dream-heavy, dream-sweet, etc., adjectives. (Chiefly poetic.) ΚΠ 1878 F. W. Bourdillon Among Flowers 51 Our dream-sweet love was not a dream. 1897 W. B. Yeats Secret Rose 2 The enchantment of his dream-heavy voice was in her ears. 1913 Crisis July 132/1 The magic city..lies on its hills above silvery waters, dream-beautiful and all but uncanny in its unexpectedness. 1992 M. Van Walleghen in Prairie Schooner 66 95 One of those dream-bright too blue mornings after days of basement-flooding rain. C5. † dream-awake adj. Obsolete rare in a state between dreaming and waking; cf. sleep-awake n. and adj. at sleep n. Compounds 4. ΚΠ 1614 J. Sylvester Bethulia's Rescue v. 7 Soft, drowsie, dream-awake. dream book n. a book containing interpretations of dreams. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > interpretation of dreams > [noun] > book containing dream book1703 1703 W. Freke Lingua Tersancta lv. 440 A Dream-Book, that is, discovering a true Instruction about Dreams. 1803 M. L. Weems Let. 27 Aug. in Ford's M. L. Weems: Wks. & Ways (1929) II. 272 To that list you may add..Some dream books, dreaming Dictionaries and above all, some Pilg. Progress. 2005 M. O'Connor Bitch Posse xxiii. 180 I wonder what it means. I used to have this dream book, but I didn't get to take that here with me. dream doctor n. a person who interprets dreams; (now esp.) a person who gives medical or spiritual guidance regarding dreams. Now chiefly in anthropological contexts. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > study or interpretation of > one who studies or interprets dream readera1387 dream doctor1545 dream interpreter?1611 dream-tellera1641 oneirocritica1652 dream-speller1652 oneiropolist1652 oneiromancer1653 oneiromantist1653 oneirocrite1693 oneirologist1834 oneiroscopist1889 the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > interpretation of dreams > [noun] > one who practises readerOE dream readera1387 conjectora1425 dream doctor1545 dream interpreter?1611 conjecturer1612 dream-tellera1641 oneirocritica1652 dream-speller1652 oneiropolist1652 oneiromancer1653 oneiromantist1653 oneirocrite1693 oneiroscopist1727 oneirologist1834 1545 G. Joye Expos. Daniel (v.) f. 64^v His sothesayers, dreame doctours, enchaunters, sorcerers. 1822 T. Gaspey Lollards II. v. 96 The more grave and solemn tones in which..the communications of the dream-doctor should be made. 1896 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 10 Oct. 1083/2 Though practically extinct in the colony, the profession of dream-doctor was in full swing in Zululand prior to the dethronement of Cetewayo. 2000 O. Flanagan Dreaming Souls vi. 179 If a person dreams four times of sex with an individual to whom he or she is not married, the person is obliged to confess to a dream doctor, who assists the dreamer in..gaining release from the inappropriate desire. dream-fabric n. an insubstantial or vague idea, concept, etc. ΚΠ 1845 ‘Young England’ Tracts for Manhood: On Regeneration 29 There is yet hope..unless, indeed, this Brotherhood be after all a Chimera—a baseless dream-fabric—having no root whatever in the soul of man. 2007 M. Doody Tropic of Venice iv. 124 Its [sc. Venice's] goods..offer a heightening of imagination, a dream-fabric rather than solidity. dream factory n. (a) a notional factory where dreams are made; (b) a manufacturer of fabricated or idealized concepts or situations, esp. a film studio or television production company; the film industry, spec. Hollywood. ΚΠ 1894 Harper's Young People 23 Oct. 866/1 We live on happiness,..doing..very nice things for other people. Why, the years I had charge of our dream factory I got rich enough to keep me in happiness all my days. 1935 J. Rorty in Forum & Cent. Sept. 162/1 Hollywood is organized and capitalized evasion of reality... It is a vast, departmentalized, delicately coordinated dream factory. 1936 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 42 428 Los Angeles and Hollywood, with its ‘dream factories’. 1965 A. Ryvers tr. P. Ravignant Edge on Darkness ii. 66 There were some whose industry was dream: they spun..dreams as others wool. They had dream factories and dream merchants dealing in dreams. 1999 N.Y. Times 11 Feb. b1/2 Mr. Spelling, the elfin mogul in charge of television's most productive dream factory, knows a thing or two about fantasy dwellings. 2001 Chicago Tribune 2 Nov. ii. 4/4 The seedy side of Los Angeles' dream factories and palm-lined streets. dream feed n. an instance of nursing or bottle-feeding a baby during the night without fully waking him or her. ΚΠ 2001 T. Hogg & M. Blau Secrets Baby Whisperer vi. 185 When an infant is six weeks old, I suggest..giving what I call a dream feed right before you retire for bed. 2016 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 26 Sept. 23 Give your baby a late-night feed or ‘dream feed’ at the same time every night even if you have to wake him to do so. dream feed v. transitive to nurse or bottle-feed (a baby) during the night without fully waking him or her. ΚΠ 2003 www.mumsnet.com 11 Dec. (forum post, accessed 12 June 2017) We used to ‘dream feed’ ds—would get him up at 10pm, he'd basically feed in his sleep most of the time. 2016 G. Ford Your Baby & Toddler Probl. Solved 115 Many mothers find it is possible to ‘dream feed’ their babies. This means picking them up form their cots at 10pm but not fully waking them. dream feeding n. the action or practice of nursing or bottle-feeding a baby during the night without fully waking him or her. ΚΠ 2001 T. Hogg & M. Blau Secrets Baby Whisperer vi. 185 With dream feeding, literally nurse or bottle-feed her in her sleep. 2015 N. Fernando & M. Potock Raising Healthy, Happy Eater iii. 38 Dream feeding..is possible because between birth and six months, the suckling reflex is automatic. dream-footed adj. literary and poetic treading softly; light-footed; also figurative. ΚΠ 1865 J. R. Lowell Ode at Harvard Commem. x Dream-footed as the shadow of a cloud, They [sc. names] flit across the ear. 1916 Times 14 Feb. 9/3 I, dream-footed, walked among the streams. 2011 P. Grandbois Nahoonkara 142 The soft crunch of snow beneath dreamfooted hooves. dream landscape n. a landscape seen in a dream; (now chiefly) the world of dreams perceived as a landscape; cf. dreamscape n. 2. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > image which appears in phantom1557 phantasma1598 dream vision1702 dream figurec1819 dream imagec1819 dream-picture1840 dream landscape1865 dreamscape1876 1865 W. Collins Armadale ii. v, in Cornhill Mag. Feb. 151 Can you find us the original of this mysterious figure in the dream-landscape? 2010 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 7 Sept. d5/1 Emotional events may work their way into a person's dreams that night. But..those events disappear from the dream landscape—often to be reincorporated roughly a week later. dream machine n. (a) a (notional) device which produces dreams or images in the brain; (b) an ideal or dreamed-of machine, esp. a motor vehicle, or (figurative) a powerful, efficient sports team (cf. mean machine n. at mean adj.¹ Compounds 2); (c) a manufacturer of fabricated or idealized concepts or situations; the film or television industry, esp. Hollywood; (cf. dream factory n. (b)). ΚΠ 1905 C. Wheeler Doubledarling & Dream Spinner 34 Papa, are there dream machines? And will they make any kind of dreams you want? 1930 Manitoba Free Press 12 July 29/4 This dream machine [sc. the commercial airplane of the future] is to be equipped with silent engines. 1931 Wichita Daily Times (Wichita Falls, Texas) 2 Jan. 13/2 Some folks will contend that Alabama was the equal or superior of Knute Rockne's dream machine. 1943 Barron's National Business & Financial Weekly 13 Dec. 11/2 Leaders in the [farming equipment] industry..have cautioned against expecting ‘dream machines’ on the day of victory. 1963 Observer 17 Nov. 13/2 Malraux's latest speech ranged from Chaplin to Antigone... The evils of the ‘dream machines’ of cinema and TV. 1986 Tel. (Austral.) (Nexis) 1 Aug. 42/6 Australia's dream machine, the women's 4x400m relay team's answer to the mean machine, has called on swimming's motivator Laurie Lawrence for help. 1995 Village Voice (N.Y.) 7 Mar. 29/2 The Angry White Male is very much a creature of the dream machine. 2003 Independent 27 Aug. (Review section) 2/2 Most of his Harley-riding friends are..men of a certain age who think that by buying up their dream machine they can recapture a little of their lost youth. dream palace n. (a) an ideal or dreamed-of world or existence (cf. castle in the air n. at castle n. 11); (b) a perfect house or home, a building of extravagant design or decoration; (c) a place where people can escape into a fantasy world; spec. a cinema (cf. dream factory n. (b)). ΚΠ 1848 Sc. Temperance Rev. Nov. 494/1 Castle-building and dream palaces are always a-building. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer 318 They [sc. his plans and projects] appeared to him in this his dark hour as the fantasies of an opium-eater or the dream-palaces of a slumbering child. 1907 Lebanon (Indiana) Patriot 2 May 4/1 Chicago's giant white city of dream palaces and magnificent distances! 1939 Moville (Iowa) Mail 2 Nov. 2/4 Little Lucy had never seen such a room as the one to which Edith led her. The whole house was, indeed, a dream palace. 1950 Winnipeg Free Press 23 Dec. 12/5 The public houses are less handsome now..(their place as dream palaces of the poor taken by super-cinemas). 1956 Independent (Long Beach, Calif.) 20 Apr. 2/1 While other theaters..were ballyhooing ‘The Swan’, a movie starring Her Serene Highness, one dream palace had the courage to state..that here was ‘One place where you won't see, hear, or read about Grace Kelly.’ 1999 D. Haslam Manchester, Eng. iii. 67 The dream palaces mirrored more closely the relentless glamour of 1930s Hollywood than the real world outside. 2011 National Post (Canada) (Nexis) 15 Jan. a16 In their dream palaces, Quebec would be a linguistically cleansed island paradise. dream-picture n. (a) an image seen or as if seen in a dream; (b) a picture representing a dream. [In sense (a) after German Traumbild (16th cent. in Luther); compare earlier dream image at Compounds 1b.] ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > image which appears in phantom1557 phantasma1598 dream vision1702 dream figurec1819 dream imagec1819 dream-picture1840 dream landscape1865 dreamscape1876 1840 C. C. Felton tr. W. Menzel German Lit. III. 178 The reader..sees one brilliant dream-picture [Ger. Traumbild] after another hurry before him, as if in a poetical wild-chase. 1844 Athenæum 30 Mar. 299/1 One of those dream-pictures in the treatment of which the painter of ‘Joshua’ and ‘Belshazzar's Feast’ will long remain unequalled. 1913 A. A. Brill tr. S. Freud Interpretation of Dreams i. 42 We give to the dream pictures the credence of reality because in sleep we have no other impressions to compare them with. 2003 Times 21 May (T2 section) 19/1 Collins's use of sharp shadows gives a hard edge to his dream-pictures. dream poem n. a poem about a dream. In later use chiefly with reference to medieval narrative poetry; cf. dream vision n. 2. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > narrative poem > [noun] > other types of narrative poem comedya1413 tragica1679 lai1774 fabliau1804 dream poem1850 parable-poem1884 dream vision1906 corrido1911 toast1962 1850 N. Brit. Rev. Feb. 385 Many of their most ambitious works were composed with as little premeditation as the dream-poems of a schoolboy's childhood. a1963 C. S. Lewis Discarded Image (1964) iv. 63 Every allegorical dream-poem in the Middle Ages records a feigned somnium. 2004 T. Davenport Medieval Narr. vi. 199 The question of continuity does not usually arise in dream poems because they normally deal each with a single dream. dream pop n. a style of popular music, usually featuring layered guitar effects and quiet or breathy vocals, in which the creation of an atmospheric, textured, often ethereal sound is as important as the melody, lyrics, etc.; frequently attributive. Cf. shoegazing n. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > pop music > [noun] > other pop music a cappella1905 soundclash1925 marabi1933 doo-wop1958 filk1959 folk-rock1963 Liverpool sound1963 Mersey beat1963 Mersey sound1963 surf music1963 malombo1964 mbaqanga1964 easy listening1965 disco music1966 Motown1966 boogaloo1967 power pop1967 psychedelia1967 yé-yé1967 agitpop1968 bubblegum1968 Tamla Motown1968 Tex-Mex1968 downtempo1969 taarab1969 thrash1969 world music1969 funk1970 MOR1970 tropicalism1970 Afrobeat1971 electro-pop1971 post-rock1971 techno-pop1971 Tropicalia1971 tropicalismo1971 disco1972 Krautrock1972 schlager1973 Afropop1974 punk funk1974 disco funk1975 Europop1976 mgqashiyo1976 P-funk1976 funkadelia1977 karaoke music1977 alternative music1978 hardcore1978 psychobilly1978 punkabilly1978 R&B1978 cowpunk1979 dangdut1979 hip-hop1979 Northern Soul1979 rap1979 rapping1979 jit1980 trance1980 benga1981 New Romanticism1981 post-punk1981 rap music1981 scratch1982 scratch-music1982 synth-pop1982 electro1983 garage1983 Latin1983 Philly1983 New Age1984 New Age music1985 ambient1986 Britpop1986 gangster rap1986 house1986 house music1986 mbalax1986 rai1986 trot1986 zouk1986 bhangra1987 garage1987 hip-house1987 new school1987 old school1987 thrashcore1987 acid1988 acid house1988 acid jazz1988 ambience1988 Cantopop1988 dance1988 deep house1988 industrial1988 swingbeat1988 techno1988 dream pop1989 gangsta rap1989 multiculti1989 new jack swing1989 noise-pop1989 rave1989 Tejano1989 breakbeat1990 chill-out music1990 indie1990 new jack1990 new jill swing1990 noisecore1990 baggy1991 drum and bass1991 gangsta1991 handbag house1991 hip-pop1991 loungecore1991 psychedelic trance1991 shoegazing1991 slowcore1991 techno-house1991 gabba1992 jungle1992 sadcore1992 UK garage1992 darkcore1993 dark side1993 electronica1993 G-funk1993 sampladelia1994 trip hop1994 break1996 psy-trance1996 nu skool1997 folktronica1999 dubstep2002 Bongo Flava2003 grime2003 Bongo2004 singeli2015 1989 Independent 8 June 37/2 Frazier Chorus... Whispery, dream-pop quartet—chamber instruments, electronics and dippy art school pretension. 1992 Buffalo (N.Y.) News 23 Aug. g1/3 Dream pop: A kind of hazy, hallucinatory music, sort of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ meets the Grateful Dead. Dream pop groups include Ride and Curve. 2001 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Nov. 284/2 Routinely praised..for its ‘tuneful din’ or ‘atonal dream pop’, Yo La Tengo is in fact a cautionary tale of what happens when rock critics form a band. dream reader n. a person who interprets dreams. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > study or interpretation of > one who studies or interprets dream readera1387 dream doctor1545 dream interpreter?1611 dream-tellera1641 oneirocritica1652 dream-speller1652 oneiropolist1652 oneiromancer1653 oneiromantist1653 oneirocrite1693 oneirologist1834 oneiroscopist1889 the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > interpretation of dreams > [noun] > one who practises readerOE dream readera1387 conjectora1425 dream doctor1545 dream interpreter?1611 conjecturer1612 dream-tellera1641 oneirocritica1652 dream-speller1652 oneiropolist1652 oneiromancer1653 oneiromantist1653 oneirocrite1693 oneiroscopist1727 oneirologist1834 a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 143 (MED) He trowed þat þe menynge of drem rederes [L. verbum conjectoris] was fulfilled. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 4502 Welnes o welth did þis boteler For-gete ioseph, his drem reder. 1578 W. Baldwin et al. Last Pt. Mirour for Magistrates (new ed.) Hastings, sig. Q5^v And, is thy Lord (quoth I) a Sorcerer? A wise man now become? a dreame reader? 1879 E. Arnold Light of Asia 3 The grey dream-readers said ‘The dream is good!’ 2003 Jrnl. Japanese Stud. 29 258 Genji has a strange dream, of which a dream reader then gives him ‘an interpretation beyond the bounds of all plausibility’. dream sequence n. (a) a sequence of images seen in a dream; (b) a part of a film or other work of art portraying a dream or dreamlike events. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > other specific types gulf-dream1813 dreamlet1828 wet dream1851 dream sequence1893 wish-fulfilment1908 war dream1918 wish-dream1934 1893 World (N.Y.) 5 Nov. 4/7 However disconnected and illogical the dream sequences may be their material is a reflex of the normal impressions. 1926 Davenport (Iowa) Democrat & Leader 14 Apr. 3/4 May McAvoy..sacrifices her own good looks, except in a charming dream sequence of the picture, to the makeup of an ‘ugly duckling’. 1949 Amer. Anthropologist 51 177 One important instrument for investigating such interrelations [sc. between personality and culture] lies in the utilization of dreams and dream sequences. 2003 Time Out N.Y. 13 Feb. 96/3 The..kangaroo seen talking and..rapping in the trailer appears only in a fleeting dream sequence. dream sleep n. sleep during which dreams occur, esp. a distinct phase of deep sleep during which most dreaming take place; REM sleep (see REM n.²). ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > [noun] > other specific types subetha1398 rapid eye movement1900 dream sleep1902 REM1957 1902 G. Spiller Mind of Man ii. 68 In dream-sleep attention is at work at a level which is usually below the normal. 1962 E. Diamond Sci. of Dreams xi. 218 In one such experiment Hubel found that during the periods of dream sleep there was greater electrical activity in the nerve cells of the visual cortex. 2001 N.Y. Times 25 Jan. a1/6 The animal is certainly recalling memories of those events as they occurred during the awake state, and it is doing so during dream sleep. dreamsmith n. rare a person who dreams; a dreamer. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > [noun] > fanciful person dreamera1425 fantast1588 fantastical1589 fantastic1598 maggot-monger1607 Sabine1610 maggot-patea1640 wham1691 whim1712 visionarya1719 imaginariana1729 ideologue1815 ideologist1818 fancier1828 idealist1829 abstractionist1844 phantasist1864 dreamsmith1873 luftmensch1902 cuckoo-lander1916 fantasist1923 pie-in-the-skyer1973 1873 W. Morris Love is Enough 59 For her no marvels of the night I make, Nor keep my dream-smiths' drowsy heads awake. 1965 M. Katz Land of Manna 54 I am a Yiddish poet—a doomed troubadour, a dreamsmith jeered by the soft-voiced yokel. † dream-speller n. Obsolete rare a person who interprets dreams. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > study or interpretation of > one who studies or interprets dream readera1387 dream doctor1545 dream interpreter?1611 dream-tellera1641 oneirocritica1652 dream-speller1652 oneiropolist1652 oneiromancer1653 oneiromantist1653 oneirocrite1693 oneirologist1834 oneiroscopist1889 the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > interpretation of dreams > [noun] > one who practises readerOE dream readera1387 conjectora1425 dream doctor1545 dream interpreter?1611 conjecturer1612 dream-tellera1641 oneirocritica1652 dream-speller1652 oneiropolist1652 oneiromancer1653 oneiromantist1653 oneirocrite1693 oneiroscopist1727 oneirologist1834 1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 313 At this, the dream-spellers were divided in their divinations. dream-teller n. now rare a person who interprets dreams. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > study or interpretation of > one who studies or interprets dream readera1387 dream doctor1545 dream interpreter?1611 dream-tellera1641 oneirocritica1652 dream-speller1652 oneiropolist1652 oneiromancer1653 oneiromantist1653 oneirocrite1693 oneirologist1834 oneiroscopist1889 the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > interpretation of dreams > [noun] > one who practises readerOE dream readera1387 conjectora1425 dream doctor1545 dream interpreter?1611 conjecturer1612 dream-tellera1641 oneirocritica1652 dream-speller1652 oneiropolist1652 oneiromancer1653 oneiromantist1653 oneirocrite1693 oneiroscopist1727 oneirologist1834 a1641 R. Montagu Acts & Monuments (1642) 331 He sent for dreame-tellers to expound his dreame. 1730 J. Browne Lucubrations Sallmanazor Histrum 278 The Tribe of Conjurers, Coffee-tossers, Jepsy's, Dream-tellers &c. are able to make so many Fools in the World. 1832 Metropolitan Nov. 248 Should my readers..think me as great a twaddler as dream-tellers mostly are, they have but to..pass on to another article. 1995 Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Apr. 12/4 Much of the world Gleason explores is exotic..: physiognomists.., dream-tellers, astrologers, and medical writers. dream-tide n. chiefly poetic (a) a flow of dreams or visions; (b) the time for dreams. [With sense (b) compare earlier dreamtime n. 1.] ΚΠ 1852 New Albany (Indiana) Daily Tribune 25 June To flit away, like a thought of earth O'er the gush of its own dream-tide. a1896 W. Morris Pilgrims of Hope in Coll. Wks. (1911) XXIV. 372 The fear of the dream-tide yet seemed to abide me In the cold and sad time ere the dawn of the day. 1908 J. Payne Carol & Cadence 192 In the foredawn dreamtide, before the Maying-time, My heart is welling, swelling with presage of the Prime. 2000 Observer (Nexis) 30 Jan. (Review section) 10 These scenes..are carried along on a dream-tide of images. † dream-while n. Obsolete rare the duration of a dream or reverie; a short space of time. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > apparent duration of dream dream-while1822 1822 C. Lamb in London Mag. Apr. 306/1 Now and then, for a dream-while or so. 1823 C. Lamb in Lancet 5 Oct. 33/1 In a moment of no irreverent weakness—for a dream-while—no more—[he] would be almost content. dreamwork n. [after German Traumarbeit (S. Freud 1901, in Grenzfragen des Nerven- und Seelenlebens 1 314)] Psychoanalysis (chiefly in Freudian theory) the processes that transform the latent content of a dream into its manifest content, concealing its meaning from the dreamer and thus allowing undisturbed sleep to occur. ΚΠ 1910 tr. S. Freud in Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 21 202 It is also possible..to get some insight into the process which has brought about the disguise of the unconscious dream thoughts as the manifest dream-content. We call this process ‘dream-work’ (Traumarbeit). 1913 A. A. Brill tr. S. Freud Interpretation of Dreams vi. 262 The dream which we recollect upon wakening would thus only be a remnant of the total dream-work. 1938 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. 28 294 Dream-work..enables a compromise to be reached between the satisfaction of the repressed urges and the need for sleep. 1992 J. Gollnick Love & Soul ii. 30 The essential dream thoughts are converted into the manifest dream images and actions by means of the dreamwork mechanisms, the principal ones being condensation, displacement, and dramatic representation. Derivatives dream-wise adv. in the manner of, or as in, a dream. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [adverb] > like or in the manner of dreamingly1533 dream-wise1723 1723 N. Amhurst Poems Several Occasions 82 But dream-wise all this came to pass. 1880 W. Watson Prince's Quest 51 When all things dreamwise seemed to swim. 2010 E. Aston Writing Jane Austen ix. 162 Dream-wise, she was wafted upstairs and into the first-floor drawing room. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022). † dreamv.¹ Forms: Old English dreman, Old English driman, Old English dryman, early Middle English dræme, early Middle English dreame, early Middle English dreme, early Middle English dreome. Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: Cognate with or formed similarly to Old Saxon drōmian to cheer, clamour, to behave in a drunken manner < the same Germanic base as dream n.¹In Old English the prefixed form gedrīeman (compare y- prefix) is also attested; compare also frædrīeman to rejoice greatly (with intensifying prefix fræ- ; compare discussion at for- prefix¹). Obsolete. intransitive. To make a joyful noise, rejoice; to sing or make music; (of a musical instrument) to sound (also figurative). Also: to shout, clamour; to make merry, carouse. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > perform music [verb (intransitive)] dreamOE to make melodyc1330 to make minstrelsyc1330 note1340 practise?a1425 gest1508 melody1596 music1649 melodize1662 perform1724 spiel1870 OE Lambeth Psalter xcvii. 6 Iubilate in conspectu regis domini : dremaþ uel fægniaþ on gesihðe cyninges drihtnes. OE Wulfstan Isaiah on Punishment for Sin (Hatton) 217 Hearpe & pipe & mistlice [read mistlic] gliggamen dremað eow on beorsele; & ge Godes cræfta nan ðing ne gymað. OE St. Mildred (Lamb.) in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1914) 132 333 Anna seo halige wuduwa & Simeon se ealda sungon & drymdon. ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 316 Þet ower beoden bemen wel & dreamen in drichtines earen. a1250 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 3 (MED) Murie dreameð engles biuoren þin onsene. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 11420 Harpen gunnen dremen. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 6780 Me heom brohte drinken & heo gunnen dremen. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2020). dreamv.² Brit. /driːm/, U.S. /drim/ Inflections: Past tense and past participle dreamed Brit. /driːmd/, U.S. /drimd/, (chiefly British) dreamt Brit. /drɛmt/, U.S. /drɛmt/; Forms: Middle English dreym, Middle English–1500s dreeme, Middle English–1500s drem, Middle English–1500s dreme, Middle English–1600s dreame, 1600s dreem, 1600s driming (present participle), 1600s– dream, 1800s– drame (chiefly Irish English); also Scottish pre-1700 dreame, pre-1700 dreme, pre-1700 dreym, 1900s– draem, 2000s– draim. Past tense and past participle. α. Middle English dremede, Middle English dremyd, Middle English–1500s dremed, 1500s dreamd, 1500s dremit, 1500s– dreamed, 1600s 1800s dream'd, 1900s– dramed (U.S. regional); also Scottish pre-1700 dremit, pre-1700 dremyt. β. Middle English drempte, Middle English– drempt (now chiefly U.S. regional), 1500s– dreampt (now chiefly U.S. regional), 1500s– dreamt, 1500s– dremt (now chiefly U.S. regional), 1600s dream't. γ. U.S. regional 1800s dreamp', 1800s– dremp, 1900s– dram, 1900s– dramp, 1900s– dream, 1900s– drem, 1900s– drump. Origin: Either (i) formed within English, by conversion. Or (ii) a word inherited from Germanic. Etymon: dream n.² Etymology: Either (i) < dream n.², or (ii) the reflex of an unattested Old English verb cognate with Middle Dutch drōmen (Dutch dromen ), Middle Low German drȫmen , Old High German troumen (German träumen ), Old Icelandic dreyma , Old Swedish dröma (Swedish drömma ), Old Danish, Danish drømme , all in sense ‘to dream’ < the Germanic base of dream n.²The impersonal construction in sense 1 (sometimes complemented by the cognate noun dream ) is paralleled in other early and medieval Germanic languages, where both the dreamer and the word for ‘dream’ are in the accusative. In Old English the usual word for ‘to dream’ is mǣtan mete v.²; also sometimes swefnian sweven v. Compare also see v. 11c. 1. transitive (impersonal). me (etc.) dreams: it occurs to me (etc.) in a dream; I (etc.) dream. Also with noun complement, as me (etc.) dreams a dream: I (etc.) have a dream. Chiefly in past tense. Now rare and archaic. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [verb (impersonal)] me (etc.) metes sweveneOE me dreamsc1300 c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 1304 Anoþer drem dremede me ek. a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2059 Me drempte ic stod at a win-tre. a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2049 Hem drempte dremes boðen onigt. a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 1941 Quat-so him drempte ðor-quiles he slep. c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xviii. l. 8 Of gerlis..gretly me dremed. a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 51 That it was May thus dremed me. ?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 7347 (MED) Me dremyd..þat I was ledd To durham. 1854 S. T. Dobell Balder xiv. 58 In the night..Methought I stood within this room..and medreamed I stood Robed like a necromancer. 1962 L. M. Hollander tr. Poetic Edda (ed. 2) 245 Me dreamed, Gunnar, a gruesome dream. 2. To have a dream or dreams. a. intransitive. With of, about, †on. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [verb (intransitive)] swevenc1000 metec1300 dreama1325 to be adreamed1556 a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2067 Good is..to dremen of win. a1425 (?a1350) Seven Sages (Galba) (1907) 3285 (MED) Þis lady was þe same Þat he had so dremyd of at hame. 1562 W. Bullein Bulwarke of Defence 22^v If they doe dreame of Fyre, to take it for no euill presage of strife. 1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. iv. 74 She gallops..O're Ladies lips, who dreame on kisses strait. 1602 T. Dekker Blurt Master-Constable sig. F3^v Ile fall to sleepe, And dreame of her, loue-dreames are nere too deepe. 1660 J. S. Andromana iii. vi. sig. F2 There's not a Lady in the land but sighs with passion for him, And dreams on him anights. 1734 J. Jacob tr. J. Barclay Adventures Poliarchus & Argenis iii. 134 I could not rest for dreaming about her all Night. 1787 Daily Universal Reg. 25 Jan. 3/3 A farmer..was waked in the middle of the night by his wife, who..had dreamed of the man who had stolen their poultry. 1865 E. B. Tylor Res. Early Hist. Mankind i. 8 The object dreamt of. 1875 A. Swinbourne Pict. Logic v. 40 I actually dreamt about Logic again. 1934 J. Stuart Man with Bull-tongue Plow 205 One night I dreamed of thorny wild rose banks Far back among the Greenup County hills. 1988 P. Barber Vampires, Burial, & Death 184 In European folklore..the dream was viewed as a visit from the person dreamed about. 1997 Sunday Times 26 Oct. (Mag.) 82/4 I always dream about shoes, and sometimes I wake up..in the middle of the night because the designs are so good. b. intransitive. Without prepositional phrase as complement. ΚΠ c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Nun's Priest's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 192 Thus twies in his slepyng dremed he. c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 42 Or yf that spiritis haue the myght To make folke to dreme a-nyght. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms cxxv[i]. 1 Then shal we be like vnto them that dreame. 1578 W. Hunnis Hyue Full of Hunnye xl. f. 99^v It happened that both these men in one Night beyng sad In sleepe did Dream, and ech Mans Dreame a sundry meaning had. 1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. i. 67 To sleepe, perchance to dreame, I there's the rub. View more context for this quotation 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iii. 514 Jacob..Dreaming by night under the open Skie. View more context for this quotation 1726 D. Defoe Polit. Hist. Devil ii. iii. 217 To dream, is nothing else but to think sleeping. 1780 J. Brett tr. B. J. Feijóo y Montenegro Ess. IV. 57 When we sleep and dream, we are under the..persuasion that we are awake. 1837 H. T. Colebrooke Misc. Ess. I. 339 While a man sleeps without dreaming, his soul is with Brahme. 1855 O. W. Holmes Poems 235 Where bovine rustics used to doze and dream. 1913 L. Chadwick Baseball Joe at Yale vii. 61 ‘It's made of cheese, isn't it?’ ‘And other stuff. Great for making you dream.’ 2000 Cosmopolitan (Cape Town) Oct. 131/1 When you dream, your mind isn't distracted by the zillion and one activities you're normally tackling. 3. To see, hear, or feel (something) in a dream. a. transitive. With simple (frequently indefinite) object. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [verb (transitive)] meteOE seea1325 dreamc1390 somniate1657 c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. ix. l. 60 (MED) Þe Meruiloste Meetynge Mette I me þenne, Þat euere dremede driht In drecchynge. c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xxii. l. 1 (MED) Ich awakede and wrot what ich hadde dremed. a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 295 (MED) He went to bedde and tooke a slep And dremyd this. 1518 H. Watson tr. Hystorye Olyuer of Castylle xx. sig. E.i^v Olyuer lyfte vp his heed whan he herde his name pronounced, and wyst not whether that he hadde dremed it, or not. 1532 Romaunt Rose in Wks. G. Chaucer f. cxxviii/1 That dremen in her slepe a nyghtes Ful many thynges couertly. 1577 W. Fulke Overthrow & Confut. Doctr. Purgatory ii. x. 334 in Two Treat. against Papistes Let him not saye it is therefore true, because..this our brother or that our sister sawe such a vision waking or dreamed such a vision sleeping, &c. 1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. iv. 52 They [sc. dreamers] doe dreame things true. View more context for this quotation 1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII iii. i. 134 One that ne're dream'd a Ioy, beyond his [sc. her Husband's] pleasure. View more context for this quotation 1653 D. Osborne Lett. to Sir W. Temple (2002) xxi. 96 It may bee I dreampt it.., or else it was one of the Resvery's of the Ague. 1700 J. Dryden To Dutchess of Ormond in Fables sig. A4^v The Macedon, by Jove's Decree, Was taught to dream an Herb for Ptolemee. 1726 D. Defoe Polit. Hist. Devil ii. iii. 217 He brought her to dream whatever he put into her Thoughts. 1813 ‘Æditus’ Metrical Remarks 32 The droning Priesthood slumber'd in their stalls, Nor dreamt the storm, which shook their fabrics' walls. 1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam ci. 156 On that last night..I dream'd a vision of the dead. View more context for this quotation 1932 Boys' Life June 42/3 Indians..would go to sleep with the thought firmly fixed in their minds that they must dream something worth while. 1983 D. Duane So you want to be Wizard? 36 She might have dozed off and dreamed the talking tree. 2007 A. Theroux Laura Warholic xxviii. 410 Had he dreamt it, wondered Eugene. b. transitive. With clause, esp. that-clause, as object. ΚΠ a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 2901 I dreme..That I al one with hire mete. c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Nun's Priest's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 323 Andromacha Ectores wyf..dremed..How þ^t the lyf of Ector sholde be lorn. c1450 King Ponthus (Digby) in Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. (1897) 12 113 I dremed this nyght that I become a grete blak wolfe. ?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1872) IV. 353 Sche dremede [L. somniavit..quod] that sche had childed a wickede son. a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 157 I dremed ane angell came fra hevin. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Gen. xl. B I dreamed that there was a vyne before me,..and the grapes therof were rype. 1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iii. xxxii. 196 He dreamed that God spake to him. 1696 T. D'Urfey Comical Hist. Don Quixote: 3rd Pt. iii. ii. 34 Let him but dream that he's regaling with Buttock Beef, Bacon, Brewis, and such like. 1702 W. Freke Gen. Idea Allegorick Lang. ii. 34 You dream that..your Servant meets you walking in your Hall. a1767 Sir Aldingar xix, in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ballads (1885) II. iii. 45/1 I dreamed a grype and a grimlie beast Had carryed my crowne away. 1816 P. B. Shelley Alastor 11 He dreamed a veiled maid Sate near him. 1829 Athenæum 3 June 346/3 And then he dreamed how forth he sprang A warrior child on rushing wings. 1907 K. D. Wiggin New Chron. Rebecca iii. 78 Last night I dreamed that the river was ink. 2000 Z. Sardar Consumption Kuala Lumpur 173 That night Salam dreamt that his father had become a tiger. c. transitive. With cognate object.Also (chiefly in 19th cent. archaic use) with reflexive pronoun me (me pron.¹ 4) as indirect object (cf. quot. 1628 at sense 4a). ΚΠ a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 3285 (MED) Whan so is That I mai cacche Slep on honde..thanne I fonde To dreme a merie swevene er day.] a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 18985 Yur eldrin men sal dremes dreme. a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 41 The kynge dremed a mervaylous dreme. a1500 Liber Pluscardensis (Marchm.) (1877) I. 388 Lik till a dreme that we had dremyt yeistreyn. ?1506 Thystorye vii. Wyse Maysters Rome (new ed.) sig. Fi^v The vii maysters made & ordeyned through out thempyre, that yf ony man had dremed a dreme he sholde come vnto them. 1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection ii. sig. Kvi The holy seruauntes of god dremeth holy dremes. 1698 T. Hearne Ductor Historicus I. iii. ii. 260 He dreamed a Dream of the Four Monarchies, which Daniel explained. 1751 J. Painter Oxf. Dream i. 5 Soon after droping [sic] asleep, I dreamed a Dream. 1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake ii. 85 There are who have, at midnight hour..Dreamed calmly out their dangerous dream. 1827 Ant 11 Aug. 199 I dreamed me a dream: O methought the pale rose, [etc.]. 1952 P. Wheeler tr. Sacred Script. Japanese 140 In his dwelling by night he dreamed a dream in which there appeared a lady holding the cords of a weaving machine and a reeling stick. 2005 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 7 Apr. 72/1 In ancient Greece the dream master stood above your head while you slept on the ground, and dreamed the dreams that were conveyed to you. 4. a. transitive. To imagine or envisage as if in a dream; to have a vision or fantasy of. Now chiefly: to think or daydream about (something greatly desired); to hope or long for. Also with reflexive pronoun me (me pron.¹ 4) as indirect object (now archaic). Cf. sense 3c. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > imagine or visualize [verb (transitive)] seeOE thinkOE bethinkc1175 devise1340 portraya1375 imagec1390 dreama1393 supposea1393 imaginea1398 conceive?a1425 fantasyc1430 purposea1513 to frame to oneselfa1529 'magine1530 imaginate1541 fancy1551 surmit?1577 surmise1586 conceit?1589 propose1594 ideate1610 project1612 figurea1616 forma1616 to call up1622 propound1634 edify1645 picture1668 create1679 fancify1748 depicture1775 vision1796 to conjure up1819 conjure1820 envisage1836 to dream up1837 visualize1863 envision1921 pre-visualize1969 the mind > mental capacity > expectation > hope > [verb (intransitive)] hightOE hope971 tristc1200 dreama1393 set1607 to have one's fingers crossed1895 a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iii. l. 51 (MED) Al wakende, I dreme and meete That I with hire al one meete. ?c1425 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Cambr. Ii.3.21) (1886) iii. pr. iii. 54 Ye men þat ben Erthely[c]he beestes dremen alwey yowre bygynnynge, Al thowgh it be with a thynne Imagynacyon. 1628 R. Markham Descr. I. Burgh 5 That though I waking was..I dreamt me thoughts of voyces that did cry. 1819 P. B. Shelley Rosalind & Helen 33 Alas! all hope is buried now. But then men dreamed the agèd earth Was labouring in that mighty birth. 1855 M. Arnold Faded Leaves in Poems 2nd Ser. 136 Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth, Come now, and let me dream it truth. a1918 D. S. Shorter Sixteen Dead Men (1919) 44 O, proud was my heart as I dreamed me a dream, I would wed him to fortune when he grew a man. 1986 H. Kretzmer tr. A. Boublil & J.-M. Natel in Cameron Mackintosh presents Les Misérables 4 I dreamed a dream in time gone by, When hope was high and life worth living.—I dreamed that love would never die. 2009 R. Rymer Susannah x. 99 I dreamed that he would be willing to move to Chicago..and we could practice law together. b. intransitive. To indulge in fantasies or reveries; to daydream about something. Now chiefly: to have a vision of the future; to hope or long for something. Frequently with of, about. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > daydream or reverie > indulge in daydreams [verb (intransitive)] dream?c1400 saunterc1475 dump1530 to go (run, be) wool-gathering1553 to gather wool1577 reverie1832 reverize1836 Alnascharize1840 daydream1899 mice1984 ?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) iii. pr. i. l. 1727 Thilke verray welefulnesse..of whyche thynge [prob. read thyn, L. tuus] herte dremeth. 1533 J. Gau in tr. C. Pedersen Richt Vay To Rdr. sig. Aii^v Thay thocht and dremit efter thair aune heid. 1579 L. Tomson tr. J. Calvin Serm. Epist. S. Paule to Timothie & Titus 877/2 Let vs not dreame vpon rest, to say, we shall be at our ease. 1595 J. Edwardes in C. M. Ingleby & L. T. Smith Shakespeare's Cent. Prayse (1879) 17 Poets that divinely dreampt. 1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 166 He also dreaming after the empire. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 175 Dream not of other Worlds. View more context for this quotation 1796 G. Walker Theodore Cyphon I. xii. 189 That weakness of judgment, which loses itself in romanticity,..and dreams all day of love in a cottage. 1822 ‘B. Cornwall’ Julian the Apostate in Poet. Wks. ii. 114 That inward languishment of mind, which dreams Of some remote and high accomplishment. 1895 Bookman Oct. 20/2 One who..has been dreaming of future triumphs. 1926 G. B. Shaw Transl. & Tomfooleries iii. 191 I dreamed and romanced: imagining things as I wanted them, not as they really are. 1967 Nation's Restaurant News 18 Dec. 9 (advt.) Its combination of sky-high profits and record-breaking volume is the kind you dream about. 2011 Independent 25 June (Mag.) 22/1 I have always dreamed of working behind the cosmetics counter in a department store's beauty hall. 5. a. transitive. Originally: to believe (something false). Later (now chiefly): to think or believe (something implausible or unlikely) to be true or possible; to consider, contemplate; to entertain the thought of. Now chiefly in negative or interrogative constructions with clause as object, as I (etc.) never dreamed that ——, who would have dreamed that ——?. ΚΠ a1425 (?c1384) J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 355 Ȝit eche preest..shulde have power to do good..but not so myche as here is dremed. 1535 J. Husee Let. 11 Dec. in Lisle Papers (P.R.O.: SP 3/12/63) f. 69^v He that shewed your ladiship that Mr. Basset was at London I thinck dremyd the same by the way, assuryng your ladiship that he was not here syns Bartholomew tyde. 1577 T. Vautrollier tr. M. Luther Comm. Epist. to Galathians (new ed.) f. 260 The Papistes dreamed that this commaundement belongeth onely to their Cleargymen. 1581 J. Marbeck Bk. Notes & Common Places 197 They are farre out of the waie, that dreame in the mysticall bread and wine, a bodilie presence. a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) iii. iii. 81 Nor Cymbeline dreames that they are aliue. View more context for this quotation 1617 Sir J. Fitzedmond in Lismore Papers (1887) 2nd Ser. II. 83 I neuer thought or dreamed the like to doe. 1700 S. L. tr. C. Frick Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 165 [We] never dreamt that there was any thing of value within it. a1718 H. Needler Wks. (1724) 58 This strange Eclipse, against Heav'n's sacred Laws, Astronomers admire, but little dream the Cause. 1782 W. Cowper Progress of Error in Poems 71 Some dream that they can silence when they will The storm of passion. 1856 Peterson's Mag. Dec. 377/1 I would have told you before if I had dreamed that you cared for me, Harry. 1892 E. Arnold Potiphar's Wife 96 That purple-winged hen-starling..Flies with a fat grub to her nested darling, Nor dreams to pouch it! 1922 Daily Mail 3 Nov. 15 I never dreamt the little blighter would go off in such a hurry. 1987 E. E. Smith Miss Melville Returns (1988) iv. 25 Who would have dreamed that the weedy, rather obnoxious adolescent could have developed into this suave, distinguished-looking scholar. 2003 Adirondack Life Nov. 25/3 Northup never dreamed he was in danger. b. intransitive. With of, †on in same sense. I (etc.) would not (also never) dream of (doing something): I (etc.) have no intention of (acting in that way). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > form conception [verb (intransitive)] dreama1538 to conceive of1570 conceit1589 idea1844 ideate1862 the mind > mental capacity > belief > speculation > engage in speculation [verb (intransitive)] dreama1538 venture1559 speculatea1677 problemize1844 ideologize1846 a1538 T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 25 Jugyd happy & fortunate..though he never dreme of vertue. 1588 ‘M. Marprelate’ Oh read ouer D. Iohn Bridges: Epist. 29 Weapons, whereof they neuer once drempt. 1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. B3 Vnstaind thoughts do seldom dream on euill. View more context for this quotation 1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. v. 169 There are more things in heauen and earth Horatio, Then are Dream't of, in your philosophie. a1641 R. Montagu Acts & Monuments (1642) 539 This is..not so much as dreamed on by Baronius. 1712 E. Budgell Spectator No. 506. ¶12 She has discovered..accomplishments in herself, which she never before once dreamed of. 1754 R. O. Cambridge Intruder 12 'Twas a plan I never dreamt on. 1766 G. Colman & D. Garrick Clandestine Marriage iv. 58 Thou art always dreaming of my intrigues, and never seest me badiner, but you suspect mischief. 1817 W. Godwin Mandeville II. vi. 115 Mine was pure, simple, undefecated rage, that did not dream of controling itself. 1884 G. Allen Philistia I. 167 I wouldn't dream of going to live in the place. 1914 Daily Express 2 Sept. 3/1 We were all beat up after four days of the hardest soldiering you ever dreamt of. 1985 D. Lucie Hard Feelings i. iii, in Progress & Hard Feelings 62/2 Rusty Look, don't put me off while I'm doing it, will you? Annie Wouldn't dream of it. 2010 Observer 17 Jan. (Mag.) 51/1 The sort of things they would never dream of telling their mothers about. 6. a. intransitive. Originally: to act as if in a dream; to behave idly, apathetically, or listlessly; to procrastinate. Now (chiefly in progressive tenses): to be lost in a daydream or reverie; to be distracted or preoccupied. Also with away, †on. Sometimes overlapping with or coloured by sense 4b. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > inaction > disinclination to act or listlessness > be listless or lethargic [verb (intransitive)] slumberc1380 dream1548 vegetate1740 moon1763 stagnate1774 maunder1775 Dianize1834 veg1979 the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > drowsiness > be or become drowsy [verb (intransitive)] nodc1425 dow1502 dream1548 drowse1598 winka1616 doze1693 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. clxij^v He mindyng no lenger to dreame in his waightie matter, nor to kepe secrete his right and title. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccxxxi^v The Frenche kyng dremyng, and waityng like a Foxe for his praie. a1649 T. Shepard Parable Ten Virgins (1660) ii. i. 11 I am perswaded the reason why men walk in their sleep, and go dreaming up and down the world, is this, they consider not..; what do I? 1732 B. Franklin Pennsylvania Gaz. 17–24 July 2/1 Mr. Crownhim..is always dreaming over the Checquer-board. 1770 A. Young Rural Oeconomy viii. 303 What an immense undertaking must all this appear to a man, who, for forty years, has never stirred out of a beaten track, but dreamt on in the sleep of his forefathers. 1837 Southern Lit. Messenger June 353/1 I grew sick of service.., And came to dream through life.., Forgetful of the old lure of ambition. 1931 E. Bliss Saraband i. 11 She's always dreaming. I think she lives in a world of her own. 1979 N. Mailer Executioner's Song (1980) i. xviii. 304 On the drive back to Springville, she was dreaming away and got in a wreck. 2012 M. Hope Daughter's Gift 37 Elizabeth Nelson, will you stop dreaming and get on with your work? †b. transitive. To do (something) idly like someone in a dream. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > be careless or heedless of [verb (transitive)] > do as in a dream dream1548 1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. ccxxxvii^v In all hast possible, Peter not sluggyng, nor dreamyng his busines, came [etc.]. c. intransitive. figurative. Chiefly poetic. Of light, mist, the sun, etc.: to move lightly or softly; to hover or hang as if drowsily or dreamily. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > support > absence of support > be unsupported [verb (intransitive)] > be held up without support hangc1175 hovec1220 hover1578 to hang on the trip1681 poise1818 dream1828 balance1833 pendulize1869 1828 R. Montgomery Universal Prayer 44 Mournful glimmers of the mellow sun Lie dreaming on the walls! 1842 Ld. Tennyson Vision of Sin in Poems (new ed.) II. 213 A sleepy light upon their brows and lips—As when the sun, a crescent of eclipse, Dreams over lake and lawn. 1852 M. V. Fuller Fresh Leaves from Western Woods (1860) 99 She slumbered on the glowing sofa in her snowy dress, with the rich light dreaming around her. 1858 N. Hawthorne French & Ital. Jrnls. II. 284 Mist..dreamed along the hills. 1907 D. S. Shorter Coll. Poems 194 A feathered choir in the leafy heights are singing A farewell to the West where the evening sun dreams low. 2002 J. F. Deane Undertow (2009) 216 There was a great space of sky above, silver-blue and grey, the light beginning to fade, grey clouds dreaming lazily in their own easiness. 7. transitive (reflexive). To bring oneself into a specified condition by dreaming or fantasizing. Also: to bring oneself into an imagined condition, place, etc., in a dream or fantasy. ΚΠ 1629 S. Austin Vrania 31 When the morning-bell With dolefull tollings newly gan to tell That it was foure; it was my happy chance To dreame my selfe into this following Trance. 1677 T. Rawlins Tom Essence i. 7 When I am in bed, I may dream my self into a passion which may enable me more vigorously to express my Love to morrow. 1714 R. Hunter Androboros ii. iv. 18 I'm sure he has had the Art to Dream himself into Notions every whit as Absurd. 1720 T. Gordon Humourist II. 28 Having dreamed himself into this Importance, [etc.]. 1827 R. H. Froude in Remains (1838) I. 221 I hope..that I may dream myself among lakes and mountains. 1876 Ld. Tennyson Harold i. ii. 31 Aldwyth. Good-night, and dream thyself Their chosen Earl. Morcar...Who knows I may not dream myself their king! 1920 Lady Gregory Visions & Beliefs West of Ireland‎ I. iv. 250 Once the soul escapes from the natural body.., it..can transform itself as it please or even dream itself into some shape it has not willed. 1992 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 23 Aug. (Sunday Punch) 6 Most of my dreams are spine-chilling. I dream myself into all kinds of trouble. 2006 L. Welsh Bullet Trick (2007) 58 The red velvet seats where theatregoers dream themselves onto the stage. Phrases P1. dream on: (in imperative) ‘keep on dreaming’, ‘carry on deluding yourself’; (now chiefly as a humorous or ironic comment on an aspiration thought unlikely to be fulfilled): ‘you might wish it, but in vain’; ‘some hope’ (cf. in your dreams at dream n.² and adj. Phrases 8). ΚΠ 1759 A. Murphy Orphan of China ii. 15 Dream on, deluded tyrant; yes, dream on In blind security. 1859 Central Wisconsin (Wasau) 24 Mar. 1/6 ‘I want..a gentle, innocent, lily-bell sort of a creature, who will make me a wife..[but] I don't know myself what she is to be like.’ ‘Well, dream on, Frank; you are full of such odd, ridiculous notions, that it would be useless for us to try and convert you.’ 1930 F. Eastman Tinker 42 Jack: Here's what I see: a motor-cycle right now..—next summer Lake George and a motor boat—and then next autumn College!..David (laughing): Dream on! Dream on! 1962 ‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed v. 41 ‘Dream on!’ I said... ‘What tells you I ever had a cooking spoon?’ 1988 J. McInerney Story of my Life vi. 106 Dean doesn't mind leaving early, though, because he thinks he's getting nooky. Dream on babe. 2004 J. Burchill Sugar Rush (2005) 209 I expect you're waiting for some sort of erotic-neurotic grand finale... Well, dream on. P2. to dream the impossible dream: to pursue or achieve a grand scheme or ambition in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds; to risk all in pursuit of one's most cherished hope or aspiration; also (in later use) as a slogan.The phrase was popularized by the song The Impossible Dream (1965) (from the musical Man of La Mancha), based on the opening lines of a speech from the play I, Don Quixote (1959) by Dale Wasserman (1914–2008), who also wrote the musical. Cf. impossible dream n. at impossible adj. and n. Additions. ΚΠ 1885 E. Carpenter Towards Democracy 126 These are they who dream the impossible dream—and it comes true. 1959 D. Wasserman in Washington Post 8 Nov. g3/3 ‘I, Don Quixote’ may be best expressed in the creed I have written for the Knight of the Sad Countenance to speak: To dream the impossible dream, To fight the unbeatable foe. 1965 J. Darion Impossible Dream (sheet music) 2 To dream the impossible dream, To fight the unbeatable foe. 1968 NEA Handbk. 1967–8 (National Educ. Assoc. U.S.) 7 I urge you and every teacher to join me in this vigorous, arduous, challenging quest. Let's dream the impossible dream. 1972 Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) 6 Oct. 17/8 Green Bay dreamed the impossible dream a week ago, defeating the Dallas Cowboys. 2002 J. White Meth. Success (2010) vi. 37 Dream the impossible dream... Visualize the person you want to become... You can be whatever you can conceive. Phrasal verbs With adverbs in specialized senses. to dream away transitive. To pass, spend, or waste (time, one's life, etc.) in dreaming or reverie. Also: to make (time) pass more quickly by dreaming. ΘΚΠ the world > time > spending time > spend time or allow time to pass [verb (transitive)] > in some activity > in sleep or dreaming sleep1565 to dream away1600 sleep1623 doze1693 drowse1843 the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > drowsiness > make drowsy [verb (transitive)] > pass away (time) drowsily to dream out1579 drowse1598 to dream away1600 doze1693 1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream i. i. 8 Fower nights will quickly dreame away the time. View more context for this quotation 1693 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §116. 142 Whether he lazily and listlessly dreams away his time. 1781 W. Cowper Retirem. 467 To cross his ambling pony day by day, Seems at the best but dreaming life away. 1822 C. Lamb in London Mag. July 33/1 I dream away my life in others' speculations. 1889 J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat i. 9 I..suggested that we should seek out some retired and old-world spot.., and dream away a sunny week among its drowsy lanes. 1915 Psychol. Clinic 15 Dec. 11 A domestic certificate..permits her to sit in her slovenly home and dream away the hours undisturbed. 1977 V. Setchkarev in A. Kingsford Introd. Russ. Lang. & Lit. (1981) vi. 158 An idealist who dreams his life away. 2005 Palm Beach Life Spring 42 (caption) If you visit in off-season..you can snag a bench along the water to dream the day away. † to dream forth Obsolete. rare. transitive. To relate (something) false or imagined. With indirect object. ΚΠ 1543 G. Joye George Ioye confuteth Winchesters Articles f. vi But Win. dreaming vs forthe his newe fayned faith cowplethe her to an externe knowlege of [etc.]. to dream out Now rare. 1. transitive. To plan, devise, think up; to imagine or envisage in or as in a dream. Cf. to dream up at Phrasal verbs. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > inventive or creative faculty > contrive, devise, or invent [verb (transitive)] findeOE conceive1340 seek1340 brewc1386 divine1393 to find outc1405 to search outc1425 to find up?c1430 forgec1430 upfindc1440 commentc1450 to dream out1533 inventa1538 father1548 spina1575 coin1580 conceit1591 mint1593 spawn1594 cook1599 infantize1619 fabulize1633 notionate1645 to make upc1650 to spin outa1651 to cook up1655 to strike out1735 mother1788 to think up1855 to noodle out1950 gin1980 1533 T. More 2nd Pt. Confut. Tyndals Answere iv. p. ix This electe chyrche of Tyndals descrypcyon..can not onely do no good, but is also dremed out by hym to do myche harme. 1543 J. Bale Yet Course at Romyshe Foxe sig. C.v Hygh treason ageynst yowr holye father agapitus popett of Rome, whych fyrst dreamed it out, and enacted it for a lawdable ceremonye. a1652 R. Brome City Wit i. i. sig. B, in Five New Playes (1653) So, now will I meditate, take a nap, and dreame out a few fancies. 1794 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1956) I. 67 The time which I should have bestowed on the academic studies, I employed in dreaming out wild Schemes of impossible extrication. 1847 Knickerbocker Jan. 14 Give me the unconquerable will.., the grasp of restless energy which never stops..to fall asleep in order to dream out the gorgeous future. 1930 E. Pound Draft of XXX Cantos v. 21 And all of this, runs Varchi, dreamed out beforehand In Perugia. 1935 Punch 4 Sept. 262/2 The man who has a clearly formed ambition, who has dreamed out an ideal which his whole personality [etc.]. 2. transitive. To waste by dreaming; to pass or spend (time, one's life, etc.) in dreaming or reverie. Cf. to dream away at Phrasal verbs. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > drowsiness > make drowsy [verb (transitive)] > pass away (time) drowsily to dream out1579 drowse1598 to dream away1600 doze1693 1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 921 Fortune layd it vpon him, and therefore bad him goe thorow withall, and not to dreame it out losing oportunitie [Fr. laisser perdre les occasions en trop dilayant]. 1645 T. Shepard Sound Beleever ii. 9 Consider this all you that dreame out your time in minding only things before your feet, never thinking on the evills of your owne hearts. 1687 J. Dryden Hind & Panther iii. 98 Whether [swallows] dream the winter out in caves below. 1853 Working Man's Friend 1 Jan. 220/1 The flowers, Fresh with the heavy summer dew, Dream out the solitary hours. 1998 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 5 Dec. 13 I stopped at the old folks home..where some of the oldest surviving islanders dream out their days. to dream up transitive. Originally: to imagine or envisage in or as in a dream. Now chiefly: to devise (an idea, plan, etc., esp. one that is ingenious or fanciful); to invent, think up. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > imagine or visualize [verb (transitive)] seeOE thinkOE bethinkc1175 devise1340 portraya1375 imagec1390 dreama1393 supposea1393 imaginea1398 conceive?a1425 fantasyc1430 purposea1513 to frame to oneselfa1529 'magine1530 imaginate1541 fancy1551 surmit?1577 surmise1586 conceit?1589 propose1594 ideate1610 project1612 figurea1616 forma1616 to call up1622 propound1634 edify1645 picture1668 create1679 fancify1748 depicture1775 vision1796 to conjure up1819 conjure1820 envisage1836 to dream up1837 visualize1863 envision1921 pre-visualize1969 1837 Morning Chron. 12 Jan. With our Shakespeare in hand, and bright forms in our brain, we can dream up our Siddons and Kembles again. 1867 B. Brierley Marlocks of Merriton 53 Everything [sc. plants and trees personified] appeared to be dreaming up old memories. 1904 R. E. Young Henderson iii. 81 He..shook himself out of the dream: ‘Oh, you fool!’ he told himself sharply; ‘always dreaming up some smoke-woman, some bachelor's comfort.’ 1916 N.Y. Tribune 8 June 11/1 I'd try to dream up some new scheme and never thought I'd do it. 1950 Manch. Guardian Weekly 16 Nov. 3 A slick political trick, such as might have been dreamed up by a bright Chicago wardheeler. 1997 Food & Wine Sept. 73/2 ‘Guido Reni? What made you dream that up?’‘I didn't dream it up,’ said Carlo. ‘It is a Bolognese dish that goes back for generations.’ 2004 Daily Tel. 11 Aug. 21/4 Senior officers who..are not obsessed with dreaming up some whizzy new scheme in order to achieve the next rank. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.¹eOEn.²adj.c1300v.¹OEv.²c1300
随便看	muse-rid muse-ridden muse-sucker museau musebit mused musedescended musediscovered musedode museful musefully musehaunted museinspired muselar museled museless muselessness muselike musellim museloved museman musemonger musen museographer museographic

† dreamn.1

Compounds

dreamn.2adj.

Phrases

Compounds

Derivatives

† dreamv.1

dreamv.2

Phrases

Phrasal verbs

† dreamn.¹

dreamn.²adj.

† dreamv.¹

dreamv.²