SLUMBER

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does slumber mean? 

• SLUMBER (noun)
  The noun SLUMBER has 2 senses:

1. a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended

2. a dormant or quiescent state

  Familiarity information: SLUMBER used as a noun is rare.

• SLUMBER (verb)
  The verb SLUMBER has 1 sense:

1. be asleep

  Familiarity information: SLUMBER used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SLUMBER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

sleep; slumber

Context example:

calm as a child in dreamless slumber

Hypernyms ("slumber" is a kind of...):

physical condition; physiological condition; physiological state (the condition or state of the body or bodily functions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "slumber"):

sleeping (the state of being asleep)

nonrapid eye movement; nonrapid eye movement sleep; NREM; NREM sleep; orthodox sleep (a recurring sleep state during which rapid eye movements do not occur and dreaming does not occur; accounts for about 75% of normal sleep time)

paradoxical sleep; rapid eye movement; rapid eye movement sleep; REM; REM sleep (a recurring sleep state during which dreaming occurs; a state of rapidly shifting eye movements during sleep)

shut-eye; shuteye (informal term for sleep)

Derivation:

slumber (be asleep)

slumbery (inclined to or marked by drowsiness)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A dormant or quiescent state

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("slumber" is a kind of...):

dormancy; quiescence; quiescency (a state of quiet (but possibly temporary) inaction)

Derivation:

slumberous; slumbrous (quiet and tranquil)

• SLUMBER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they slumber    ... he / she / it slumbers   
Past simple: slumbered   
Past participle: slumbered   
-ing form: slumbering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be asleep

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

catch some Z's; kip; log Z's; sleep; slumber

Hypernyms (to "slumber" is one way to...):

rest (be at rest)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "slumber"):

bundle; practice bundling (sleep fully clothed in the same bed with one's betrothed)

catch a wink; catnap; nap (take a siesta)

sleep in; sleep late (sleep later than usual or customary)

hibernate; hole up (sleep during winter)

aestivate; estivate (sleep during summer)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue slumber

Derivation:

slumber (a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended)

slumberer (a rester who is sleeping)

 Context examples 

After surmounting your unconquerable horror of the bed, you will retire to rest, and get a few hours' unquiet slumber.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

She kissed me, and I her, and we both soon slumbered.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It rejoiced me to see it, for it meant that his slumber would be deep, and that all would be made easy for me.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now and then, as he made an assertion, he shot a venomous glance at his opponent, who seemed to be slumbering deeply, with the same broad, happy smile upon his face.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep slumber.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Her faint became a profound slumber.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

What I am describing, slumbered, and half awoke, and slept again, in the innermost recesses of my mind.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I retired to rest at night; my slumbers, as it were, waited on and ministered to by the assemblance of grand shapes which I had contemplated during the day.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

At that time my virtue slumbered; my evil, kept awake by ambition, was alert and swift to seize the occasion; and the thing that was projected was Edward Hyde.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

This repulsive pillow was her especial property, being used as a weapon of defense, a barricade, or a stern preventive of too much slumber.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)