<B>sledding, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the action of riding or coasting on a sled. <DD><B> 2. </B>the condition of the snow for the use of sleds. <BR> <I>Ex. two months of good sledding.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>hard</B> (or <B>tough</B>) <B>sledding,</B> </I>(Informal.) unfavorable conditions; difficult going. <BR> <I>Ex. With the loss of business the little grocery store was in for some hard sledding.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sleddog">
<B>sled dog,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a dog used to draw a sled in arctic regions. </DL>
<A NAME="sledge">
<B>sledge</B> (1), noun, verb, <B>sledged,</B> <B>sledging.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a heavy sled or sleigh, usually pulled by horses. <BR> <I>Ex. Travelling is impossible by sledge because the ice is unsafe (Gabriele Rabel).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(British.) a sleigh. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to carry (something) on a sledge. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to ride on or in a sledge. <BR> <I>Ex. On the shelf ice of this sound one can sledge without great difficulty (Gabriele Rabel).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sledge">
<B>sledge</B> (2), noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>=sledge hammer.</B> <DD><I>v.t., v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to sledge-hammer. <BR> <I>Ex. to sledge a rock to pieces.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Australian, Figurative.) to strike out with angry or insulting language. <BR> <I>Ex. He ... rarely lets an opportunity go by to sledge them ... At various times he has called them ... frauds, cheats ... pigs and mugs (Daily Mirror, Australia).</I> noun <B>sledger.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sledgedog">
<B>sledge dog,</B> <B>=sled dog.</B></DL>
<A NAME="sledgehammer">
<B>sledge hammer</B> or <B>sledgehammer</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a large, heavy hammer, usually swung with both hands. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative:) <BR> <I>Ex. Sarcasm can become a sledge hammer in a debate.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sledgehammer">
<B>sledge-hammer</B> or <B>sledgehammer</B> (2), verb, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t., v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to hit with a sledge hammer. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative:) <BR> <I>Ex. I grant a sledge-hammering sort of merit in him (Dickens).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> powerful; crushing. <BR> <I>Ex. a sledge-hammer attack. In the past, the Russians have always used sledge-hammer tactics in trying to take over Iran (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sleek">
<B>sleek, </B>adjective, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>soft and glossy; smooth. <BR> <I>Ex. sleek hair.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>having smooth, soft skin, hair, or fur. <BR> <I>Ex. a sleek cat.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) smooth of speech and manners. <BR> <I>Ex. a sleek salesman. He had a look of sleek intelligence (Graham Greene).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>having clean lines; trim; smooth. <BR> <I>Ex. a sleek jet plane.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to smooth; remove roughnessfrom. <DD><B> 2. </B>to make smooth and glossy. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) To sleek her ruffled peace of mind (Tennyson).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to make tidy. <BR> <I>Ex. to sleek up a room.</I> adv. <B>sleekly.</B> noun <B>sleekness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sleeken">
<B>sleeken, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to make sleek; smooth. </DL>
<A NAME="sleeker">
<B>sleeker, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person or a tool that sleeks leather. </DL>
<B>sleep, </B>verb, <B>slept,</B> <B>sleeping,</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to rest body and mind; be without ordinary thought or movement. <BR> <I>Ex. We sleep at night. Most animals sleep.</I> (SYN) slumber, doze, drowse, nap, snooze. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to be in a condition like sleep. <BR> <I>Ex. The seeds sleep in the ground all winter. How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) to rest, as in the grave; lie buried. <BR> <I>Ex. So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David (I Kings 2:10).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to have sexual relations (with). <DD><B> 5. </B>(Informal.) to give sleep. <BR> <I>Ex. The new sofa did sleep much better than the old one (Louise Meriwether).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Botany.) to close petals or leaves, especially at night. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to provide with or offer sleeping accommodation for. <BR> <I>Ex. a hotel that sleeps 500 people.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to pass in sleeping. <DD><B> 3. </B>to take rest in (sleep). <BR> <I>Ex. He slept the sleep of exhaustion.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>rest of body and mind occurring naturally and regularly in animals. <BR> <I>Ex. Most people need eight hours of sleep a day. Tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep! (Edward Young). The biological object of sleep seems to be recuperation, its psychological characteristic the suspension of interest in the outer world (Sigmund Freud).</I> (SYN) slumber, doze, drowse, snooze, nap. <DD><B> 2. </B>a period of sleep. <BR> <I>Ex. a short sleep. Have a good sleep.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) a condition like sleep. <BR> <I>Ex. to put one's doubts to sleep.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Botany.) a movement of plants in which they assume at nightfall positions unlike those which they have maintained during the day; nyctitropism. <BR><I>expr. <B>lose sleep over,</B> </I>to worry so as to be unable to sleep. <BR> <I>Ex. But can we convert back before the conference season, is what I lose sleep over (Punch).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>sleep away,</B> </I>to pass or spend in sleeping. <BR> <I>Ex. She slept away the whole morning.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>sleep in,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>to sleep in the house where one works. </I> <I>Ex. Some servants sleep in.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(British.) to sleep late; oversleep. <BR> <I>Ex. Saturday morning the boys and I let Merna and Willa sleep in (Maclean's).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>sleep off,</B> </I>to get rid of by sleeping. <BR> <I>Ex. She was sleeping off a headache.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>sleep on,</B> </I>to consider (something) overnight. <BR> <I>Ex. The attendant slept on the offer and then decided (New York Times).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>sleep out,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>to sleep away from the house where one works. </I> <I>Ex. Our maid sleeps out.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to sleep outdoors. <DD><B> c. </B>to pass or spend in sleeping. <BR> <I>Ex. to sleep out the night.</I> adj. <B>sleeplike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="sleepcure">
<B>sleep cure,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a form of therapy used especially in European countries, in which a person suffering from insomnia, nervousness, depression, and the like is administered large doses of tranquilizers and barbiturates to keep him temporarily in a sleeping or dozing state. <BR> <I>Ex. The psychiatrist will order a sleep cure of about eight days, on the average. This is supposed to break the tension and get him out of his environment (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sleeper">
<B>sleeper, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person or thing that sleeps. <BR> <I>Ex. The noise woke the sleepers.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a railroad car with berths for passengers to sleep in; sleeping car. <DD><B> 3a. </B>a heavy horizontal beam used as a support. <DD><B> b. </B>one of the substantial strips of wood laid over concrete to enable wood floors to be nailed to it. <DD><B> 4. </B>(British.) a tie to support a railroad track. <BR> <I>Ex. The steel rail, prised from the sleepers, had tilted over to one side (Maclean's).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) a person or thing that makes an unexpected success, such as an athletic team, a motion picture, or a book. <BR> <I>Ex. I was in the peculiar spot of negotiating for a book that I hadn't read--but the deal went through in fine shape, and I think we've got a real sleeper (Saturday Review).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Informal.) a sleeping pill. <BR><I>expr. <B>sleepers,</B> </I>one-piece pajamas for little children, extending from the neck and covering the feet. <BR> <I>Ex. winter sleepers.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="sleeperette">
<B>sleeperette, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Especially British.) a sleeping compartment on a train or boat. </DL>
<A NAME="sleeperplane">
<B>sleeper plane,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an airplane with sleeping accommodations for passengers. </DL>
<A NAME="sleepful">
<B>sleepful, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> marked by sleep; restful through sleep. <BR> <I>Ex. sleepful nights.</I> </DL>
<B>sleepily, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a sleepy manner. </DL>
<A NAME="sleepin">
<B>sleep-in, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> sleeping in the place where one works. <BR> <I>Ex. Her mother was a sleep-in domestic servant who worked in another suburb of Cape Town (New Yorker).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> the act of occupying a public place by a group of people to spend the night or to sleep there as a form of protest, demonstration, or indication of ownership rights. </DL>
<A NAME="sleepiness">
<B>sleepiness, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> sleepy quality or condition; drowsiness. </DL>
