sleepy

sleep +‎ -y

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• IPA^(key): /ˈsliːpi/
• Rhymes: -iːpi

sleepy (comparative sleepier, superlative sleepiest)

1. Tired; feeling the need for sleep.
   • John Dryden

     She wak'd her sleepy crew.

2. Suggesting tiredness.
   • 1994, Stephen Fry, The Hippopotamus Chapter 2

     At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. Disgusted with himself at such cowardice, he spat a needle from his mouth, stepped back from the tree and listened. There were no sounds of any movement upstairs: no shouts, no sleepy grumbles, only a gentle tinkle from the decorations as the tree had recovered from the collision.

3. Tending to induce sleep; soporific.

   a sleepy drink or potion

4. Dull; lazy; heavy; sluggish.
   • William Shakespeare

     'Tis not sleepy business;
     But must be looked to speedily and strongly.

5. Quiet; without bustle or activity.

   a sleepy English village

• tired
• See also Thesaurus:sleepy

sleepy (uncountable)

1. (informal) The gum that builds up in the eye; sleep, gound.
   • 1964, Ken Kesey, Sometimes a Great Notion

     "Did he always leave the sleepy in his eyes?" "Never removed it; let it build up in the comers of his eyes over the weeks until it was heavy enough to fall […]

   • 1991, Martin Amis, London Fields

     But the nightdress was heavy, the sleepy in her eyes was heavy, her hair (she made a mustache of one of its locks) was heavy and smelled of cigarettes […]

   Synonym: sleep (which see for more)

• Epleys