A spirit believed to produce a feeling of suffocation in a sleeping person or animal; a feeling of suffocation experienced during sleep; an…

A female spirit or monster supposed to settle on and produce a feeling of suffocation in a sleeping person or animal. Also figurative. Now rare.

Originally: a female spirit or monster believed to settle on and produce a feeling of suffocation in a sleeping person or animal. Later (with the)…

A feeling of oppression during sleep, as of some heavy weight on the chest and stomach; the nightmare.

spec. A female spirit or supernatural being believed to produce a feeling of suffocation in a sleeping person or animal. Cf. nightmare, n. 1a. Now Ne…

A demon supposed to cause nightmare; nightmare itself.

One who lurks in the dark; a night-prowler; also, a night-spirit, a nocturnal visitant. Obsolete. rare.

A person out at night, esp. with criminal intentions. (In quot. 1693: a night-hag.)

The process or fact of being tormented, beset, or ‘ridden’ by a witch while asleep at night (see witch, n. 2). Hence: (colloquial and regional) a…