dreamingn.
/ˈdriːmɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈdrimɪŋ/ 1. The action of dream v.2 (in various senses).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun] > action or state of dreaming
dreaminga1400
somniation1598
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > [noun] > indulgence in
imaginationa1393
dreaminga1400
fantasying1552
fantasy1553
fancy1581
think-so1666
ideology1813
fantasticating1880
fantastication-
a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) l. 7578 (MED) Whan þou sekest þy wyl of flesshe..Yn handlyng, or dremyng of foly.
a1500 (?c1400) Song of Roland (1880) l. 80 Litill rest had the king..For drechinge and dremyng...A sweuyn he met that derid hym sor.
1549 J. Cheke Hurt of Sedicion sig. G1 Men..deame..other mens wisdom to be but dreaming.
1595 A. Golding tr. J. Hurault Politicke, Moral, & Martial Disc. x. 73 I know well inough that some Hope is but the dreaming of a man when he is awake.
1606 G. Chapman Gentleman Vsher i. i. sig. A2v So, will you leaue your dreaming, and dispatch?
1632 P. Hausted Rivall Friends iii. sig. H2 O, what a dainty pleasant thing it is For to bee free from care! to sleepe a night, Without the dreaming of a Creditour.
a1771 C. Smart Sel. Poems (1990) 87 The phenomenon of dreaming is not of one solution, but many.
1782 Monthly Rev. Nov. 344 We may observe..a very great resemblance betwixt dreaming and madness.
1847–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. IV. i. 690/1 Reverie or day-dreaming differs from the dreaming of the sleeper.
1865 Quiver 1 294/1 It cheats you so, this dreaming of heroic and generous actions.
1920 W. S. Walsh Psychol. Dreams xiv. 252 In the human species it is probably true that dreaming is present from early childhood to the time of death.
1981 H. W. Morgan Drugs in Amer. (1982) iv. 49 Perhaps asiatics were..more given to dreaming and reverie.
2005 Independent 28 Apr. 9/3 The light, fast-wave sleep when there is rapid eye-movement (REM) and dreaming.
2. As a count noun: a dream, reverie, or fantasy; (in early use also) †a delusion, a wild imagining (obsolete). Usually in plural.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [noun]
swevenc897
metingOE
showing?c1225
sweveningc1275
dreamc1300
metels1340
dremels1362
night visiona1382
metreda1393
dreaminga1400
somniation1598
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > daydream or reverie > [noun] > daydreaming
dreaminga1400
musardryc1450
musardy1481
wool-gathering1608
woolling1705
castle-building1740
aerial architecture1750
Alnascharism1812
daydreaming1816
pipe dreaming1902
a1400 (?a1350) Seege Troye (Egerton) (1927) l. 263 (MED) His moder byþouȝt hur of hur dremyng þat she had dremed.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Nun's Priest's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 270 I sette nat a straw by thy dremynges For sweuenes ben but vanytees and Iapes.
a1425 (?a1350) Seven Sages (Galba) (1907) 3415 To hir he talde of his dremeing.
a1500 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Nero) iv. l. 362 Qwhil on est þat it was day..He..taulde hir his dremynge.
1545 J. Bale Mysterye Inyquyte P. Pantolabus f. 33 That holye Masse or sacrifice for the quycke and the dead,..with so manye ceremonyes dysgysynges..legerdemaynes, turnynges, beckynges, dreamynges, dottynges [etc.].
1568 E. Dering Sparing Restraint i. 11 Call vs not into law, for reiecting your dreamings: but acknowledge, we say truly, in deniyng that Churche, [etc.].
1647 S. Rutherford Christ Dying iii. 504 He doth not really sinne, but only in the dreamings and lying imaginations of his sinfull flesh.
1660 S. Fisher Rusticus ad Academicos ii. 110 The dark and dismal Dreamings..which have entered and centered themselves in thy Imaginatory mind.
1723 A. Hill King Henry V iv. i. 36 Were I inclin'd to superstitious Dreamings, Or apt to build on Signs, and idle Omens, [etc.].
1756 W. Toldervy Hist. Two Orphans III. xxiii. 100 Copper..would very probably have continued in that condition [sc. sleep]..had he not been accustomed to talk in his dreamings.
1830 G. W. P. Custis Pocahontas ii. vii. 32 Gentle sirs, good rest to ye, and many sweet dreamings of your lady loves.
1848 A. H. Clough Bothie of Toper-na-Fuosich iv. 142 I was walking along..Full of my dreamings.
1916 M. T. Daviess Daredevil xviii. 290 Her arm held the babe loosely as if in a deep dreaming.
1935 Sewanee Rev. 43 252 Henry..had to support himself from within, watchfully alone with his dreamings and musings.
2000 M. Kneale Eng. Passengers (2001) i. 14 Looking at that black English shore, our dreamings of..rum and rented females were long gone.
3. In the mythology of some Australian Aboriginal peoples.
a. Usually with the and sometimes with capital initial. = dreamtime n. 2; this as manifested in the natural world and celebrated in ritual. Also: the spiritual identification of a person or a group of people with a place, story, plant, animal, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > [noun] > stretch, period, or portion of time > period of certain character, condition, or events
dayOE
dayOE
summer day1563
tempestivity1569
set1633
stretch1689
period1712
run1714
tack1723
spell1827
dreamtime1844
time coursea1867
patch1897
dreaming1932
quality time1972
1931 Oceania 2 331 The word for the ceremonial totem..is also the term for the long-past mythical time of the great heroes..; it is likewise the word for dreaming.]
1932 Oceania 3 128 The same term (dʒugur, bugari, etc.) also means dreaming, or dream. But to the aborigines this does not signify mere phantasy, but spiritual reality.
1944 Oceania 15 261 Songs refer concurrently to the rite and to the importance of subincision in future secular life as well as in the domain of the ‘dreaming’.
1985 I. Donaldson & T. Donaldson Seeing First Australs 207 Aborigines had lived there and..they would have known these attributes of the land..but..now, in his own words, ‘this country bin lose 'im Dreaming’.
1987 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 18 May 8/4 The principles that are enshrined in the Dreaming which forms the very basis of Aboriginal existence transcend any cultural barriers.
2007 Ecologist July 49/2 The idea of a Universal Law or Way of nature—the Dreaming for Aboriginal people,..Dharma for Buddhists and Hindus—are all expressions of a profound law in nature, a way of being, and a way of thinking.
b. A place, plant, animal, etc., of dreamtime significance; a story owned by a particular person or group of people relating to the dreamtime.
ΚΠ
1932 Oceania 3 129 A man's dreaming is his share of the secret myths and rites,..of the old or eternal dream-time.
1943 W. E. Harney Taboo 199 Their religion, wherever it came from in the past, is now bound up in those ‘dreamings’, the traditional sites and memorials of the great deeds of the culture heroes of the past.
1948 A. Marshall Ourselves writ Strange 198 My dreaming different. It near old camp, long time ago. Near running water.
1983 D. Bell Daughters of Dreaming 22 At other points we would drive quietly so as not to disturb the dreamings who had passed through this area.
2002 D. Johnson Lighting Way xix.168 The Kupa Pita Kungkas, a group of senior Coober Pedy-based Aboriginal women who are the custodians for the Seven Sisters Dreaming..are protesting a..proposal to establish a nuclear waste dump.
2003 enRoute July 24/1 ‘We don't like to bury our people in town,’ Eddie tells me... ‘Especially the old ones. We bring them out here. To their land. To their dreaming.’
Compounds
attributive in sense 3, as dreaming site, dreaming story, dreaming track, etc.
ΚΠ
1947 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Soc. 77 134/1 This place..was an important area for the great..Ancestral Beings..who landed here in the Dreaming era.
1974 R. M. Berndt Austral. Aboriginal Relig. II. 40 A sacred site associated with the mythic being Blaur... The songs relevant to Blaur's Dreaming track are sung until this particular site..is reached, when she [sc. a girl] is painted with ochre.
1997 E. K. Webb Windows on Meteorol. 328 (caption) A Turtle Dreaming site... This is an ‘increase site’, where a ritual involves calling the names of local waterholes to promote the increase of turtles there.
2013 Daily Tel. (Austral.) (Nexis) 28 May 28 The stars have great significance in traditional Aboriginal culture, with many dreaming stories associated with particular groups of stars.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
dreamingadj.
/ˈdriːmɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈdrimɪŋ/ 1. Given to or characterized by reverie or fantasy; (in early use) †deluded, mistaken, foolish (obsolete); (later chiefly) impractical; (now also in more positive sense) visionary, idealistic. Also: given to or characterized by daydreaming; slow, distracted, absent-minded.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > [adjective]
dreaminga1500
fantasied1590
chimerizing1604
vaporous1605
imaginative1626
whimsy1637
airy1643
whimmed1654
chimerical1660
figmentitious1660
notional1664
visionary1712
viewy1848
Barriesque1894
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > daydream or reverie > [adjective]
dreaminga1500
castle-building1740
daydreaming1814
daydreamyc1816
wool-gathering1850
head-in-air1880
Walter Mittyish1954
Mittyish1956
Mittyesque1958
Mitty-like1961
a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 19 What dremyng fantasies [Fr. quel fantasieux somme] hath in suche wise ouircome me that I haue thus forgotin myself?
1533 T. More Debellacyon Salem & Bizance ii. xviii. f. cxxviv He hath there two leuys in the ende of that chapiter which any wyse man that readeth them, shall I suppose, iudge a very dreamynge tale.
?1544 J. Bale Epist. Exhortatorye f. xiiii Lewde London, lurkynge Lyncolne, dreamynge Duram [i.e. Bishop of Durham], yorke without wytt, [etc.].
1627 M. Drayton Nimphidia in Battaile Agincourt 124 This Puck seemes but a dreaming dolt, Still walking like a ragged Colt.
1681 J. Dryden Absalom & Achitophel 17 A numerous Host of dreaming Saints succeed.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Lungis, a slim Slow-back; a drowsy or dreaming Fellow.
1791 T. Wright Solyman & Fatima I. vii. 99 What unintelligible conceit is this, fond dreaming man.
1840 C. F. Hoffman Greyslaer II. iii. ii. 111 The stern realities of life which he had beheld..had long since changed Max Greyslaer from a dreaming student into a practical-minded, energetic man.
1865 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire (new ed.) VIII. lxvii. 278 No sophist, no schoolman, no mere dreaming bookworm.
1912 A. F. G. Bell In Portugal i. 7 The famous saudade of the Portuguese is..not an active discontent or poignant sadness but an indolent dreaming wistfulness.
1994 B. Wilson Courtship 105 The bowsman can't relax his vigilance for one second. You're paddling like a dreaming girl!
2011 A. Toghraie Trading on Target iv. xxxvi. 170 It is important..to understand if you are a dreaming visionary or a wishful fantasizer.
2. That dreams or is dreaming during sleep. Also in extended use of the eyes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > sleep > dream > [adjective] > dreaming or that dreams
dreaming1552
swevening1570
somnorine1637
sleeping1781
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Dreaminge felowe, somniculosus.
1583 R. P. tr. P. de la Sierra Second Pt. Myrror of Knighthood xiv. f. 79v This dreaming ladie seeing this..it seemed vnto her that there appeared before her a Centaure.
1633 C. Aleyn Battailes Crescey & Poictiers (ed. 2) 70 The dreaming parties of Navar awake, Strooke with this fright.
1693 T. Urquhart & P. A. Motteux tr. F. Rabelais 3rd Bk. Wks. xiii. 110 The natural fervour [of fruit is]..with ease evaporated into the Animal parts of the dreaming Person.
1792 S. Rogers Pleasures Mem. ii. 298 He scour'd the county in his elbow-chair; And, with view-halloo, rous'd the dreaming hound.
1874 F. W. Farrar Silence & Voices of God ii. 44 The cold clear light of eternity flashed suddenly upon the closed and dreaming eyes.
1875 Glasgow Med. Jrnl. July 355 She began to cry, but made no struggling; the eyes remained nearly shut, and the crying seemed like that of a dreaming child.
1916 Mind 25 205 Peripherally stimulated dreams are the most vivid experiences that beset the dreaming mind.
2001 D. Morgan Siberian Huskies for Dummies iii. vi. 88 Do not disturb a dreaming dog.
Compounds
dreaming spires n. used allusively to refer to the city or university of Oxford. Also in city of (the) dreaming spires.Occasionally referring to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge regarded together: cf. Oxbridge n.
ΚΠ
1866 M. Arnold Thyrsis iii, in Macmillan's Mag. Apr. 449 And that sweet City with her dreaming spires,..Lovely all times she lies, lovely to-night.]
1876 Manch. Guardian 7 July 5/2 [Some think] there would be peril in placing on one level the dreaming spires by the Isis and the brand new building in Oxford-street [sc. the University of Manchester].
1893 Macmillan's Mag. 1 May 289/1 Long hours in cushioned punts on the winding Cherwell, with the city of the dreaming spires at one's back.
1970 Times 25 May 3/7 Long hair and graffiti have caught up with the dreaming spires.
1985 Guardian (Nexis) 12 Mar. These sixth-formers conclude that there's nobody like them at Oxbridge;..that three years among the dreaming spires would be a nightmare.
1997 S. Kress C. G. Heilbrun iv. 109 She is forced to counter her infatuation with the city of dreaming spires with her realization of the Oxford establishment's treatment of women.
2013 Oxf. Times (Nexis) 30 Sept. If Ed Miliband wants some pointers on how to win the next General Election, he could do worse than look at what is happening among the dreaming spires.
Derivatives
ˈdreamingness n. rare before 20th cent.
ΚΠ
1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Dreamingness, slothfulness, acting as if in a Dream.
1902 Lippincott's Monthly Mag. Dec. 659 ‘The madness of Love!’ she repeated sadly, her eyes still turned from him in pathetic dreamingness.
1994 H. Brodkey Profane Friendship 170 Such young men in those paintings are always examples of..foolish or intense hope, a dreamingness.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1400adj.a1500