dream
UK /ˈdɹiːm/ · US /ˈdɹim/ noun, verb, adjective
Forms dreams dreaming dreamed dreamt dreame
- noun Imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping. “Last night I had a vividly scary dream about an immortal snail that chased me around and could kill me if it touched me.”
- noun (figurative) A hope or wish. “This year I fulfilled a lifelong dream of visiting the South Pacific.”
- noun A visionary scheme; a wild conceit; an idle fancy. “live in a dream”
- verb (intransitive) To see imaginary events in one's mind while sleeping. “Although people primarily dream during the REM phase of sleeping, they can dream during non-REM sleep as well.”
- verb (intransitive) To hope, to wish. “Lucy dreams of becoming a scientist when she grows up.”
- verb (intransitive) To daydream. “Stop dreaming and get back to work.”
- verb (transitive) To envision as an imaginary experience (usually when asleep). “I dreamed a vivid dream last night.”
- verb (intransitive) To consider the possibility (of). “I wouldn't dream of snubbing you in public.”
- adjective Ideal; perfect.
Synonyms
sweven vision dreaming ambition aspiration pipe dream daydream woolgather stargaze
Etymology
From Middle English dream, dreem, dreeme, drem, dreme, dræm, from Old English drēam, drēm, drīm (“joy; melody, music; frenzy”), from Proto-West Germanic *draum, from Proto-Germanic *draumaz (“dream”), from earlier *draugmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrowgʰ-mos, from *dʰrewgʰ- (“to deceive”).
The sense of "dream", though not attested in Old English, may still have been present (compare Old Saxon drōm (“bustle, revelry, jubilation", also "dream”)), and was undoubtedly reinforced later in Middle English by Old Norse draumr (“dream”), from same Proto-Germanic root.
Cognate with Scots dreme (“dream”), Saterland Frisian Droom (“dream”), West Frisian dream (“dream”), Dutch droom (“dream”), German Traum (“dream”), Limburgish Droum (“dream”), Luxembourgish Dram (“dream”), Yiddish טרוים (troym, “dream”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål drøm (“dream”), Faroese dreymur (“dream”), Icelandic draumur (“dream”), Norwegian Nynorsk draum, drøm (“dream”), Swedish dröm (“dream”); also Breton drouk (“bad; evil”), Cornish drog (“bad; evil; invalid; nasty; wicked; wrong”), Irish droch- (“bad; ill-”), Manx drogh (“bad; evil”), Scottish Gaelic droch (“bad”), Welsh drwg (“bad; naughty”), Avestan 𐬛𐬭𐬎𐬲𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (družaⁱti, “to deceive, mislead”), Bactrian λρωγο (lrōgo, “lie; falsehood”), Baluchi دروگ (darog, “lie; falsehood”), Central Kurdish درۆ (dro, “lie”), Northern Kurdish derew (“lie”), Pashto دروغ (droğ, “lie; falsehood”), Persian دُروغ (doruġ / durōġ, “lie; falsehood”), Sanskrit द्रुह्यति (druhyati, “to hurt; to bear malice or hatred; to be a foe or rival”).
The verb is from Middle English dreamen, dreme, dremen, dreomen, possibly (see below) from Old English drēman, drīeman, drȳman (“to rejoice; to play an instrument joyously; to sing a song joyfully”), from Proto-West Germanic *draumijan, from Proto-Germanic *draumijaną (“to be dream”), from the noun.
Cognate with North Frisian drem, driime (“to dream”), Saterland Frisian drööme (“to dream”), West Frisian dreame, dreamje (“to dream”), Bavarian dramma, trama (“to dream”), Central Franconian drööme (“to dream”), Cimbrian truamen (“to dream”), Dutch dromen (“to dream”), German träumen (“to dream”), Low German draimen (“to dream”), Luxembourgish dreemen (“to dream”), Yiddish טרוימען (troymen, “to dream”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål drømme (“to dream”), Faroese droyma (“to dream”), Icelandic dreyma (“to dream”), Norwegian Nynorsk drømma, drømme, drøyma, drøyme (“to dream”), Swedish drömma (“to dream, muse”).
The derivation from Old English drēam is controversial, since the word itself is only attested in writing in its meaning of “joy, mirth, musical sound”. Possibly there was a separate word drēam meaning “images seen while sleeping”, which was avoided in literature due to potential confusion with the “joy” sense. Otherwise, the modern sense must have been borrowed from another Germanic language, most probably Old Norse. Since this is the common sense in all Germanic languages outside the British isles, a spontaneous developm
Webster’s 1913
- noun The thoughts, or series of thoughts, or imaginary transactions, which occupy the mind during sleep; a sleeping vision.
- noun A visionary scheme; a wild conceit; an idle fancy; a vagary; a revery; --in this sense, applied to an imaginary or anticipated state of happiness; as, a dream of bliss; the dream of his youth.
- verb To have ideas or images in the mind while in the state of sleep; to experience sleeping visions; --often with of; as, to dream of a battle, or of an absent friend.
- verb To let the mind run on in idle revery or vagary; to anticipate vaguely as a coming and happy reality; to have a visionary notion or idea; to imagine.
Etymology [Cf. AS. dr, dr, to rejoice. See Dream, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “dream”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details