forty winks

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forty winks pl (plural only)

1. (idiomatic) A short sleep, an extra sleep, a nap.

   Synonyms: nap, shut-eye, twenty winks; see also Thesaurus:shut-eye

   As you're so tired, why not try to catch forty winks before you leave?

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[[Episode 16]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare & Co.; Sylvia Beach, OCLC 560090630; republished London: Published for the Egoist Press, London by John Rodker, Paris, October 1922, OCLC 2297483:

     […] who evidently a glutton for work, it struck him, was having a quiet forty winks for all intents and purposes on his own private account while Dublin slept.