| 释义 |
▪ I. † dream, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 1 dréam, 2–3 dream, dræm, 3–4 drem(e, 4 dreem.
[OE. dréam = OS. drôm mirth, noise, minstrelsy:—WGer. *draum-. Kluge suggests that it is from the same root as Gr. θρῦλος noise, shouting.]
1. Joy, pleasure, gladness, mirth, rejoicing.
a830Cædmon's Satan 316 Þær heo..moton..aᵹan dreama dream mid drihtne Gode. 975O.E. Chron., Her ᵹeendode eorðan dreamas Eadgar Engla cyning. 1002Will of Wulfric in Cod. Dipl. VI. 149 God ælmihtig hine awende of eallum Godes dreame. c1205Lay. 14286 Heo æten, heo drunken: dræm [c 1275 blisse] wes i burhȝen.
2. The sound of a musical instrument; music, minstrelsy, melody; noise, sound.
c1000ælfric Hom. (Th.) II. 86/35 He ᵹehyrde micele stemne..swylce bymena dream. Ibid. II. 548/12 Werhades men ongunnon symle þone dream, and wifhades men him sungon onᵹean. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 115 Þe bemene drem þe þe engles blewen. c1200Ormin 923 Þe belledræm bitacneþþ ȝuw Þatt dræm þatt ȝuw birrþ herenn. c1205Lay. 1010 Muchel folkes dream. a1250Owl & Night. 314 Ich singe..Mid fulle dreme and lude stefne. a1310in Wright Lyric P. xviii. 57 Thou make me here thi suete dreem. c1320Sir Beues 1339 (MS. A.) Saber wep and made drem. c1330Florice & Bl. (1857) 37 The leuedi..seide here louerd with still dreme, Sire [etc.].
▪ II. dream, n.2|driːm|
Forms: 3–5 drem, 4–6 dreem, dreme, dreeme, 4–7 dreame, 7– dream, (6– Sc. dreim).
[Early ME. dream, drém, not recorded in OE., but pointing to an OE. *dréam = WGer. draum-, OFris. drâm, OS., MLG. drôm, (MDu., Du. and LG. droom), OHG., MHG. troum (Ger. traum), ON. draum (Sw., Da. dröm), all in same sense. Generally thought to be a different word from dream n.1, OE. dréam = OS. drôm joy, which also points to a WGer. *draum-. Kluge suggests that Germanic *draumo-, dream, was for an earlier *draugmo- or *draugwmó-, a deriv. of the verbal series dreug-, draug-, drug-, to deceive, delude, Ger. trügen, whence ON. draugr ghost, apparition (cf. Zend druj apparition), the radical sense being ‘deceptive appearance, illusion’.
It is remarkable that no trace of dréam in this sense appears in OE.; yet it is clear that it must have existed, since the ME. form drêm is regularly derived from it, and could come from no other source. It seems as if the prevalence of dréam ‘joy, mirth, music’, had caused dréam ‘dream’ to be avoided, at least in literature, and swefn, lit. ‘sleep’, to be substituted.]
1. a. A train of thoughts, images, or fancies passing through the mind during sleep; a vision during sleep; the state in which this occurs.
waking dream, a similar involuntary vision occurring to one awake.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 1179 On dreme him cam tiding. a1300Cursor M. 4605 (Cott.) Bath þi drems ar als an. 1388Wyclif Gen. xli. 22 Y seiȝ a dreem [1382 sweuen]. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) vi. 22 He interpretid þe kynges dremes. 1474Caxton Chesse 2 They coude not telle hym his dreme that he had dremyd. 1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. Pref. i. §1 We have not..permitted things to passe away as in a dreame. 1610Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 157 We are such stuffe As dreames are made on. 1673Wycherley Gent. Dancing Master iv. i, Ne'er fear it: dreams go by the contraries. 1752Johnson Rambler No. 204 ⁋12 Striving, as is usual in dreams, without ability to move. 1807–8W. Irving Salmag. xiv. (1860) 328 If life be but a dream, happy is he who can make the most of the illusion. 1842Tennyson Locksley Hall 79 Like a dog, he hunts in dreams. 1875L. Tollemache in Fortn. Rev. Mar. 331 Large bodies of men have what may be termed waking dreams; so that, without being either authors or dupes of imposture, they declare that they have seen what they have not seen.
b. Colloq. phr. like a dream: easily, effortlessly, without difficulty.
1949R. Stout Second Confession (1950) xi. 87 The engine..starts like a dream, warm or cold. 1961Guardian 28 Nov. 16/2 The Piccadilly one-way system..worked ‘like a dream’ throughout the day.
2. fig. A vision of the fancy voluntarily or consciously indulged in when awake (esp. as being unreal or idle); a visionary anticipation, reverie, castle-in-the-air; cf. day-dream.
1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 8 b, Those be yours Osorius your owne drousie dreames. 1607Shakes. Timon iv. ii. 34 To liue But in a Dreame of Friendship. 1697W. Dampier Voy. I. vi. 159 These may seem to the Reader but Golden Dreams. 1798Ferriar Illustr. Sterne ii. 24 The dreams of Rabelais's commentators have indeed discovered a very different intention. 1847Emerson Repr. Men, Uses Gt. Men Wks. (Bohn) I. 274 The search after the great is the dream of youth.
3. transf.
a. An object seen in a vision.
1667Milton P.L. viii. 292 When suddenly stood at my Head a dream. 1847Tennyson Princ. vii. 130 If you be, what I think you, some sweet dream.
b. Something of dream-like beauty or charm, such as one expects to see only in dreams.
1888Lady 25 Oct. 374/1 My little dream of a place..such a sweet, select watering-place. 1892Daily News 2 May 2/1 Attired in a succession of those lovely gowns which enthusiasts delight to describe as ‘a dream’.
c. An ideal or aspiration; spec. a national aspiration or ambition; a way of life considered to be ideal by a particular nation or group of people. Freq. with defining adj. prefixed, as the American dream (see American A. 1 a).
1931N. & Q. CLX. 107/1 If, in the course of centuries, the Russian dream comes true the history of Australia..may seem, to students belonging to a Communist society, just as primitive, curious and exciting as to us appear the struggles within the Heptarchy. 1936M. Mitchell Gone with Wind xi. 214 He was still a young girl's dream of the Perfect Knight. 1937L. Bromfield Rains Came Dedication, For all my Indian friends..but for whom I should never have..understood the Indian Dream. Ibid. i. xxxiii. 144 A ruler who would cherish the dream and carry it a little way farther along the way to fulfilment. 1937Kipling Something of Myself vi. 149 Rhodes..said to me apropos of nothing in particular: ‘What's your dream?’ I answered that he was part of it.
4. attrib. and Comb.:
a. Simple attrib., as dream-consciousness, dream-content, dream-habit, dream-light, dream-picture, dream-play, dream-poem, dream-process, dream-sequence, dream-state, dream-story, dream-tide.
b. Pertaining to or characteristic of a dream or dreams, as dream-city, dream-country, dream-experience, dream-fabric, dream-figure, dream-hall, dream-idea, dream-image, dream-imagery, dream-kingdom, dream-landscape, dream-language, dream-life, dream-lore, dream-stuff, dream-wish, etc.
c. Done in a dream, as dream-alliance, dream-change, dream-discourse, dream-travel, dream-vision.
d. Objective and obj. genitive, as dream-bringer, dream-interpretation, dream-interpreter, dream-smith, dream-speller, dream-teller; dream-haunting adj.e. Instrumental and locative, as dream-awake, dream-awakened, dream-born, dream-built, dream-created, dream-crossed, dream-fed, dream-haunted, dream-perturbed, dream-ridden, etc. adjs.
f. Similative and parasynthetic, as dream-footed, dream-heavy adjs.
1951S. Spender World within World 310 Reader-writer walk together in a real-seeming *dream-alliance leading into gardens inhabited by Stephen Daedalus and Marcel.
1614Sylvester Bethulia's R. v. 7 Soft, drowsie, *dream-awake.
1899W. B. Yeats Wind among Reeds 35 Unknown spears Suddenly hurtle before my *dream-awakened eyes.
1881H. Phillips tr. Chamisso's Faust 14 Then let the *dream-born terrors selves reveal!
1845Mrs. Norton Child of Islands (1846) 182 Thought, the great *Dream⁓bringer.
1863Hawthorne Our Old Home 240 London the *dream-city of my youth.
1917D. H. Lawrence in Seven Arts Mar. 443 The thin, transparent membrane of her sleep, her overlying *dream-consciousness. 1919M. K. Bradby Psycho-analysis vii. 88 There is often no clear difference in the dream consciousness between idea and act, subject and object. 1925W. de la Mare Two Tales 15 This vision was only of his dream-consciousness.
1895Hardy Far from Madding Crowd (new ed.) p. vi, The horizons and landscapes of a merely realistic *dream-country.
1777Potter æschylus (1779) II. 37 (Jod.) Oft, as short slumbers close his eyes..The *dream-created Visions rise.
1930T. S. Eliot Ash Wednesday 20 The *dreamcrossed twilight between birth and dying.
1910W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 510, I woke again two or three times before day⁓break with no *dream-experiences.
1885W. B. Yeats in Dublin Univ. Rev. July 137/1 Where *dream-fed passion is and peace encloses.
1919M. K. Bradby Psycho-analysis x. 123 If we fail to discover what a *dream figure symbolises, later dreams are likely to supply the clue. 1938L. MacNeice Modern Poetry ii. 46, I required poetic diction and dream-figures.
1865Lowell Ode at Harvard Commem. x, *Dream-footed as the shadow of a cloud, They [those names] flit across the ear.
1897W. B. Yeats Secret Rose 2 The enchantment of his *dream-heavy voice was in her ears.
1869G. M. Hopkins Jrnl. 23 Dec. (1959) 194 The *dream-images also appear to have little or no projection. 1956W. Mellers in A. Pryce-Jones New Outl. Mod. Knowledge 345 He believed art to be a dream-image, lifting us above sordid actualities.
1929T. S. Eliot Dante 65 A certain habit in *dream-imagery can persist throughout many changes of civilization.
1913A. A. Brill tr. Freud's Interpret. Dreams ii. 102 If the method of *dream interpretation here indicated is followed, it will be found that the dream really has meaning. 1943Mind LII. 78 No dream-interpretation, no symptom analysis occurs, as it were, in vacuo.
1822T. Mitchell Aristoph. II. 297 The person here satirised seems to have been the diviner and *dream-interpreter of that name.
1925T. S. Eliot Poems 1909–1925 96 Eyes I dare not meet in dreams In death's *dream kingdom.
1936Burlington Mag. Sept. 106/2 We detach our attention from this *dream-landscape.
1935L. A. G. Strong in Amer. Mercury Aug. 436/1 [James] Joyce..is, throughout Work in Progress, assaying a *dream language. Ulysses dealt with day. Work in Progress deals with night.
1851D. G. Mitchell (title) *Dream life: a fable of the seasons. 1874M. Clarke His Natural Life (1875) II. iii. v. 143 It seems to me..that I have lived somewhere before, and have had another life— a dream-life. 1909W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 487 The will to personate may fall outside of the medium's own dream-life. 1940‘G. Orwell’ Inside Whale 122 The idea is to give the bored factory-girl..a dream-life.
1844Mrs. Browning Brown Rosary i. ii, Forgot or unseen in the *dreamlight around her.
1890Boldrewood Col. Reform. (1891) 318 The *dream-palaces of a slumbering child.
1899‘Mark Twain’ Man corrupted Hadleyburg (1900) 214 A dimly connected procession of *dream-pictures. 1907Daily Chron. 11 Nov. 3/4 A surprising Arabian Nights dream-picture. 1950E. H. Gombrich Story of Art xxvii. 442 The experiment of painting dream-pictures was certainly worth making.
1897G. B. Shaw Let. 4 July (1965) 779 It sounded at once serious and inexplicable, like a *dream-play. 1942L. B. Namier Conflicts 15 There was something singularly unreal and depressingly second-hand about this dream-play of French history.
1964C. S. Lewis Discarded Image iv. 63 Every allegorical *dream-poem in the Middle Ages records a feigned somnium.
1944Mind LIII. 179 The imagery-world into which we pass..is just the way the *dream-process..presents itself.
1938W. de la Mare Memory 84 Her *dream-ridden eyes.
1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 9 But *dream-scenery of this sort is familiar to most persons.
1959Encounter Oct. 53/1 A legend that has the stylised simplicity of a *dream-sequence in a Hollywood musical.
1652Gaule Magastrom. 313 At this the *dream-spellers were divided in their divinations.
1899Westm. Gaz. 12 Aug. 3/1 A waking and momentary *dream state. 1951M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 10/1 Such patterns can only persist in a dream state.
1899‘Mark Twain’ Man corrupted Hadleyburg (1900) 281 The Egyptian..rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to *dream-stuff and passed away. 1916D. H. Lawrence Amores 27 The dream-stuff is molten and moving mysteriously.
a1641Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 331 He sent for *dreame-tellers to expound his dreame.
1936Burlington Mag. Aug. 85/1 His *dream-wishes should be fulfilled in reality.
g. Special combs.: dream-boat, dreamboat colloq. (orig. U.S.), an exceptionally attractive or pleasing person or thing (= dream n.2 3 b); spec. an extremely attractive member of the opposite sex; dream-book, a book containing interpretations of dreams; dream-child, a child seen in a dream; an imaginary child; so dream-son; † dream-doctor, one who professes to interpret dreams; dream-reader, one who reads or interprets dreams; dream ticket orig. U.S., a pair of candidates for political office ideally matched to attract widespread support for a party in an election: orig. applied to the proposed candidature of Richard M. Nixon and Nelson A. Rockefeller for President and Vice-President of the U.S.; cf. ticket n.1 8; dream-time, (a) Austral. = alcheringa; (b) the time for dreams, when the fancy is allowed to run freely; dream vision, a conventional poetic form, freq. used by medieval poets, in which the author recounts an alleged dream, the subject of which is often open to allegorical interpretation; also, a poem presenting this form; dream-while, the apparent duration of a dream; dream-wise adv., after the manner of, or as in, a dream; dream-work Psychol. [tr. G. traumarbeit], the process by which dreams transmute their latent content into their manifest content in order to conceal their real meaning from the dreamer; dream-world, the world that one seems to enter in dreams; a world of dreams or illusions.
1947Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang Suppl. 1, Liked person. Cheezle peezle, *dreamboat, [etc.]. 1949in Wentworth & Flexner Dict Amer. Slang (1960) 162/1 [Ava Gardner] will star opposite James Mason, who she says is a ‘dreamboat’. 1951C. M. Kornbluth in Galaxy Sci. Fiction Apr. 141/1 Other cars were showing up, all of them dreamboats. 1951T. Rattigan Who is Sylvia? ii. 245, I thought you'd be quite old and staid and ordinary and, my God, look at you, a positive dream boat. 1957Life 29 Apr. 137/1 (caption) A dream boat for hot-rodders is a chromed roadster like this one. 1960Woman's Own 10 Sept. 63/2 You've been a dreamboat, and so has Robin.
1793J. Lackington Mem. (rev. ed.) xxxix. 415 Here you may find an old bawd inquiring for ‘The Countess of Huntingdon's Hymn-book’..and Dolly for a *Dream-book. 1803M. L. Weems Let. 27 Aug. (1929) II. 272 To that list you may add..Some dream books, dreaming Dictionaries and above all, some Pilg. Progress. 1909J. Barlow Irish Ways 17 There are fair-sized country towns, whose shops might be thoroughly ransacked without bringing to light any literary wares of more account than a dream-book. 1923P. Colum Castle Conquer x, I bought ear-rings and brooches, dream-books and fortune-books, buckles and combs.
1822Lamb in London Mag. V. 21 (title) *Dream-Children; a reverie. 1903Westm. Gaz. 28 Mar. 2/1 He's only my Dream-child. Some women have to be content all their life with Dream-children.
1545Joye Exp. Dan. v. H viij b, His sothsayers, *dreame doctours, enchaunters, sorcerers.
a1300Cursor M. 4502 (Cott.) Welnes o welth did þis boteler For-gete ioseph, his *drem reder. 1470–85Malory Arthur i. ix, Be we wel auysed to be aferd of a dreme reder said Kyng Lot. 1879E. Arnold Lt. Asia 3 The grey dream-readers said ‘The dream is good!’
1926M. Leinster Dew on Leaf 114 *Dream-son be all that I shall ever know. 1963Auden Dyer's Hand 510 Prince Hal will remain his [Falstaff's] dream-son and boon-companion.
1960Nation's Business June 26/1 The G.O.P. professionals in Washington began calling it the ‘*dream ticket’. 1983Sunday Tel. 2 Oct. 1/2 Mr Kinnock, a leading left-winger, and Mr Hattersley, an outspoken figure on Labour's Centre-Right, have been described as the dream ticket because they would form a team uniting both wings of the Labour party. 1987Washington Post 29 Mar. c2/1 ‘Dream Ticket,’ says the cover of Time. ‘Dream Ticket?’ says the cover of Newsweek.
1910,1965*Dream time [see alcheringa]. 1943W. E. Harney Taboo (1944) 42 Years before, in the ‘dream time’..water poured in from the east and flooded the country.
1937Blunden Elegy 60 But the brain Fights *dream-time in vain.
1906R. K. Root Poetry of Chaucer iv. 65 Its general form as a poem of the *dream-vision type associates the Parliament of Fowls with the essentially mediæval, French models of Chaucer's earlier period. 1929L. Pound in Malone & Ruud Stud. Eng. Philol. in Honor of F. Klaeber 235 One is tempted..to dwell upon the popularity of the Dream-Vision form in the Middle Ages as bearing relation to the dream inspiration of poetry. 1947H. S. Bennett Chaucer & 15th Cent. iii. 34 While he retains the dream-vision, he uses it in a new (if not novel) way to bring out the pathos of his story. 1957C. Muscatine Chaucer & Fr. Tradition iv. 115 [In the House of Fame] Chaucer..again adopts the dream vision as a frame. 1965English Studies XLVI. 15 Chaucer's Book of the Duchess and his other dream-visions.
1822Lamb Elia Ser. i. Artificial Comedy, Now and then for a *dream-while or so.
1880Watson Prince's Quest (1892) 51 When all things *dream⁓wise seemed to swim.
1913A. A. Brill tr. Freud's Interpret. Dreams vi. 262 The dream which we recollect upon wakening would thus only be a remnant of the total *dream-work. 1938Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. XXVIII. 294 Dream-work..enables a compromise to be reached between the satisfaction of the repressed urges and the need for sleep.
1817Coleridge Biogr. Lit. 65 It places us in a *dream-world of phantoms and spectres. 1885Tennyson Anc. Sage x, But thou be wise in this dream⁓world of ours.
h. attrib., passing into adj. Such as one dreams of or longs to have; ideal; perfect.
Some examples in senses 4 a–g are not distinguishable from this use.
1896E. Turner Little Larrikin xii. 129 The dream-cottage was dearer to him than all the beautiful houses he owned. 1903Westm. Gaz. 6 July 10/1 Mr. Gibson was not slow to grasp the resemblance between his dream-girl and the real. 1911J. London Let. 30 May (1966) 347, I am building my dream-house on my dream-ranch. 1931J. Cannan High Table xv. 220 Home at last to my Dream Girl. 1958K. Goodwin in P. Gammond Decca Bk. Jazz xiii. 149 He fronted an all-star ‘dream’ band for a lengthy season at the famous Birdland niterie. 1959D. Eden Sleeping Bride v. 40 She planned her dream home. 1960Guardian 14 Apr. 12/4 A dream London in which there are fewer cars. 1961Listener 7 Dec. 966/2 Housewives are offered dream houses with dream kitchens. 1967Wodehouse Company for Henry iv. 66 We got engaged. The family put up a considerable beef..because I wasn't everybody's dream girl. 1971Guardian 19 Jan. 5/6 This is not a dream car just built for a motor show.
▸ colloq. (orig. U.S.). in your (my, etc.) dreams: (as an ironic or resigned comment on an aim or hope unlikely to be fulfilled) ‘that is highly improbable’, ‘not a chance’, ‘some hope’.
1986Re: why believe in Religion? in talk.religion.misc (Usenet newsgroup) 9 Oct. Even if every Christian were to magically become an atheist tomorrow (in your dreams, right?), there would still be a loud and quite organized cry against abortion. 1995Eng. Today July 31/2 Sarah goes to me I think he's quite flattered and I went, in your dreams. 1998C. Worrall Grace xxvi. 264 ‘She's not a goer, then?’.. ‘In my dreams.’ 2000J. Goodwin Danny Boy iii. 65 Aggressive lads and dressed-up lasses all trying hard to pretend they didn't live in Lincoln. ‘Nah, mate. Just passin through on me way to me London flat, like’. In your dreams. 2002Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 10 May 15 They reasoned that..they could build up a nice cushion of points, forcing Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello to play catch up in the second half of the season. In their dreams!
▸ dream catcher n. a charm, of North American Indian origin, consisting of a wooden or leather hoop with a webbed centre of threads decorated with feathers, beads, etc., and usually hung above a bed to entrap bad dreams.
1991Chicago Tribune 2 Jan. ii. 3/6 Popular items in the museum are ‘*dream catchers’, discs made of twigs and string that were placed in Indian homes to ensure a peaceful sleep. 1992K. L. Hartman Dream Catcher 8 A Dream Catcher when hung moves freely in the air and catches the dreams as they float by. The good dreams know their way and will go through the center hole... The bad dreams, not knowing the way, get entangled in the webbing and perish with the first light of the new day. 2002Northern Echo (Electronic ed.) 5 Feb. There's a smell of incense, an enormous oriental fan and an American Indian dream catcher on the wall.
▸ dream pop n. a style of popular music, usually featuring layered guitar effects and quiet or breathy vocals, in which the creation of an atmospheric, textured, often ethereal sound is as important as the melody, lyrics, etc.; (freq.) spec. (esp. in the United States) = shoegazing n.
1989Independent 8 June 37/2 Frazier Chorus... Whispery, *dream-pop quartet—chamber instruments, electronics and dippy art school pretension. 1992Buffalo (N.Y.) News 23 Aug. g1/3 Dream pop: A kind of hazy, hallucinatory music, sort of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ meets the Grateful Dead. Dream pop groups include Ride and Curve. 2001Vanity Fair Nov. 284/2 Routinely praised..for its ‘tuneful din’ or ‘atonal dream pop’, Yo La Tengo is in fact a cautionary tale of what happens when rock critics form a band.
▪ III. † dream, v.1 Obs.
[OE. *drieman, drýman, dréman to make music or melody, to play on an instrument, rejoice = OS. drômian ‘jubilare’; f. WGer. *draum-, OS. drôm, OE. dréam, dream n.1]
intr. To make a musical or joyful noise; to make melody.
a1000Lamb. Psalter xcvii. 7 (Bosw.) Dremað oððe fæᵹniaþ on ᵹesihþe cyninges. c1205Lay. 13586 Me heom brohte drinken & heo gunnen dremen. Ibid. 22885 Harpen gunnen dremen. a1225Ancr. R. 430 Þet ower beoden bemen & dreamen wel ine Drihtenes earen. a1240Ureisun in Cott. Hom. 191 Murie dreameð engles biuoren þin onsene.
▪ IV. dream, v.2|driːm|
Pa. tense and pple. dreamed |driːmd|, dreamt |drɛmt|. Forms: see dream n.2
[Appears in 13th c. with the n. Either derived from the latter, or repr. an unrecorded OE. *dríeman, dryman, dréman, corresp. to ON. dreyma, OHG. troumen, Ger. träumen, an earlier deriv. of Germanic *draum-: see dream n.2]
1. intr. To have visions and imaginary sense-impressions in sleep. Const. of († on), about, and with indirect passive.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 2067 Good is..to dremen of win. c1320Seuyn Sag. (W.) 2960 This lady was the same That he had so dremyd of. c1470Henry Wallace xi. 1295 Tell I this in our place Thai wyll bot deym, I othir dreym or rawe. 1535Coverdale Ps. cxxv[i]. 1 Then shal we be like vnto them that dreame. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 74 She gallops..Ore Ladies lips, who strait on kisses dreame. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 514 Jacob..Dreaming by night under the open Skie. 1726De Foe Hist. Devil ii. iii. (1840) 198 To dream is nothing else but to think sleeping. 1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. i. 8 The object dreamt of. 1875A. Swinbourne Picture Logic v. 40, I actually dreamt about Logic again.
2. trans. To behold or imagine in sleep or in a vision;
a. with cognate or pronominal obj.; sometimes with simple obj. = dream of.
a1300Cursor M. 18985 (Cott.) Yur eldrin men sal dremes dreme. a1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 18 That dremen in her slepe a nights Ful many things couertly. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 36 The holy Seruauntes of god dremeth holy dremes. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 53 They [dreamers] do dreame things true. Ibid. v. iii. 79 Said he not so? Or did I dreame it so? 1613― Hen. VIII, iii. i. 135 One that ne'er dream'd a Ioy, beyond his [her Husband's] pleasure. 1700Dryden Fables, To D'chess Ormond 134 The Macedon by Jove's decree, Was taught to dream an herb for Ptolemy. 1726De Foe Hist. Devil ii. iii, He brought her to dream whatever he put into her thoughts. 1810Scott Lady of L. ii. xxxi, Who have..Dreamed calmly out their dangerous dream. 1813‘ædituus’ Metrical Remarks 32 The droning Priesthood slumber'd in their stalls, Nor dreamt the storm, which shook their fabrics' walls. 1850Tennyson In Mem. cii, On that last night..I dream'd a vision of the dead.
b. with obj. clause.
1393Gower Conf. II. 99, I dreme..That I alone with her mete. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xxviii. 2, I dremed ane angell came fra Hevin. 1651Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxii. 196 He dreamed that God spake to him. 1815Shelley Alastor 151 He dreamed a veiled maid Sate near him.
†3. Impersonal construction: with obj. of the dreamer, followed by of, cognate obj., or object clause, as in 1 and 2. Obs. or arch.
The regular construction in ON., and possibly the original in Eng. also. Cf. ON. mik dreymdi draum, or draum dreymdi mik, ME. drem dremede me; ON. hann dreymdi þat, at hann væri, etc., ME. him drempte that he was, etc. The ON. shows that there are two accusatives, which ME. from the levelling of inflexions fails to do.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 1941 Quat so him drempte ðor quiles he slep. Ibid. 2049 Hem drempte dremes boðen oniȝt. Ibid. 2059 Me drempte, ic stod at a win-tre. c1300Havelok 1304 Another drem dremede me ek. a1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 51 That it was May, thus dremed me. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xviii. 8 Of gerlis..gretly me dremed. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 7347 Me dremyd..þat I was ledd To durham. [1854S. Dobell Balder xiv. 58 In the night..Methought I stood within this room..and medreamed I stood Robed like a necromancer.]
4. trans. To imagine or fancy as in a dream; to think or believe (a thing) to be possible; to picture to oneself.
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 355 Ȝit eche preest..shulde haue power to do good..but not so myche as here is dremed. 1581Marbeck Bk. of Notes 197 They are farre out of the waie, that dreame in the mysticall bread and wine, a bodilie presence. 1606Shakes. Cymb. iii. iii. 81 Nor Cymbeline dreames that they are aliue. 1617Sir J. Fitzedmond in Lismore Papers Ser. ii. (1887) II. 83, I neuer thought or dreamed the like to doe. 1700S. L. tr. C. Fryke's Two Voy. E.I. 165 [We] never dreamt that there was any thing of value within it. 1849–52M. Arnold Longing iii, Come now, and let me dream it truth. Mod. Little did any one dream that such a catastrophe was at hand.
5. intr. with of, † on: To think of even in a dream or in the remotest way; to have any conception of; to think of, or contemplate, as at all possible; to conceive, imagine. Chiefly in negative sentences (express or implied).
1538Starkey England i. ii. 36 Jugyd happy and fortunate..though he neuer Dreme of vertue. 1588Marprel. Epist. (Arb) 27 Weapons, whereof they never once drempt. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. v. 168 There are more things in Heauen and Earth, Horatio, Then are dream't of in our Philosophy. a1641Bp Mountagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 539 This is..not so much as dreamed on by Baronius. 1712Budgell Spect. No. 506 ⁋12 She has discovered..accomplishments in herself, which she never before once dreamed of. 1884G. Allen Philistia I. 167, I wouldn't dream of going to live in the place.
6. intr. To fall into reverie; to indulge in fancies or day-dreams; to form imaginary visions of (unrealities).
1533Gau Richt vay To Rdr. (1888) 3 Thay thocht and dremit efter thair aune heid. 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 877/2 Let vs not dreame vpon rest, to say, we shall be at our ease. 1595J. Edwardes in Shaks. C. Praise 17 Poets that divinely dreampt. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 166 He also dreaming after the empire. 1667Milton P.L. viii. 175 Dream not of other Worlds. 1845Longfellow Old Clock on Stairs vi, There youths and maidens dreaming strayed. 1895Bookman Oct. 20/2 One who..has been dreaming of future triumphs.
†7.
a. intr. To act drowsily or indolently; to procrastinate.
b. trans. To perform indolently like one in a dream. Obs.
1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 162 b, He mindyng no longer to dreame in his waightie matter, nor to kepe secrete his right and title. Ibid., Edw. IV, 231 b, The Frenche kyng dremyng, and waityng like a Foxe for his praie. Ibid. 237 b, In all hast possible Peter not sluggyng, nor dreamyng his busines, came [etc.].
c. intr. fig. To hover or hang dreamily or drowsily.
1842Tennyson Vision of Sin 11 A sleepy light upon their brows and lips—As when the sun, a crescent of eclipse, Dreams over lake and lawn. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. II. 284 Mist..dreamed along the hills.
8. trans. † to dream forth: to put forth as one who tells a dream (obs.) to dream away or dream out: to pass or spend in dreaming.
c1546Joye in Gardiner Declar. Art. Joye (1546) 17 Winchester, dreamynge vs forth, his newe fayned fayth, coupleth her to an externe knouledge. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. i. i. 8 Foure nights wil quickly dreame away the time. 1687Dryden Hind & P. iii. 451 Whether [swallows] dream the winter out in caves below. 1822Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Th. Bks. & Reading, I dream away my life in others' speculations.
9. refl. To bring oneself in a dream.
1720Hum. Lett. in Lond. Jrnl. (1721) 29 Having dreamed himself into this Importance [etc.]. 1827R. H. Froude Rem. (1838) I. 221, I hope..that I may dream myself among lakes and mountains.
10. to dream up (occas. to dream out): to picture (something) in one's mind; to think up, devise, invent.
1930E. Pound XXX Cantos v. 21 And all of this, runs Varchi, dreamed out beforehand In Perugia. 1935Punch 4 Sept. 262/2 The man who has a clearly formed ambition, who has dreamed out an ideal which his whole personality [etc.]. 1941Life 3 Mar. 23/2 Ambassador Winant is about as far from the conventional picture of a..diplomat as Franklin Roosevelt could have dreamed up. 1942Time 23 Mar. 60/2 Pondering Stanford's lack of a liberal arts school, Professor Dodds dreamed up one which would avoid the failings of most liberal arts colleges. 1950Manch. Guardian Weekly 16 Nov. 3 A slick political trick, such as might have been dreamed up by a bright Chicago wardheeler. 1958Listener 30 Oct. 680/1 This compulsory ‘cooling-off period’ is not something we have just dreamed up. 1964M. McLuhan Understanding Media v. 59 Plato..failed to notice that Athens was a greater school than any university even he could dream up.
Hence dreamed, dreamt ppl. a., ˈdreaming vbl. n.; also ˈdreamage (rare), dream-stuff.
c1320Seuyn Sag. (W.) 3089 To hir he talde of his dremeing. 1549Cheke Hurt Sedit. (R.), They..deeme..other mens wisedome to be but dreaminge. 1611Broughton Require Agreem. 53 Diana, a dreamed Goddesse of hunting. 1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 59 This dreamt or imaginary space. 1848Clough Bothie iv. 127, I was walking along..Full of my dreamings. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. vii. liii, Like a dreamed visitant from some region of departed mortals. 1887F. Hall in Nation (N.Y.) XLIV. 515/3 The musty dreamage which he retails.
▸ colloq. (orig. U.S.). dream on: (as a humorous or ironic comment on an aspiration thought unlikely to be fulfilled) ‘carry on deluding yourself’; ‘you might wish it, but in vain’; ‘some hope’.
1962‘K. Orvis’ Damned & Destroyed v. 41 ‘Dream on!’ I said... ‘What tells you I ever had a cooking spoon?’ 1988J. McInerney Story of my Life vi. 106 Dean doesn't mind leaving early, though, because he thinks he's getting nooky. Dream on babe. 1998BBC Vegetarian Good Food Nov. 25/2 We haven't really got to grips with the garden this year—maybe I will when I have all that time off work (dream on!—Ed). |