You can use sleeper to indicate how well someone sleeps. For example, if someone is a light sleeper, they are easily woken up.
I'm a very light sleeper and I can hardly get any sleep at all.
Poor sleepers take longer to fall asleep than good sleepers.
2. countable noun
In British English, a sleeper is a carriage on a train containing beds for passengers to sleep in at night, or a section of such a carriage. The usual American words are sleeping car for the carriage and roomette for the section.
3. countable noun
A sleeper is a train with beds for its passengers to sleep in at night.
[British]
4. countable noun [oft noun NOUN]
Railway sleepers are large heavy beams that support the rails of a railway track.
[British]regional note: in AM, use ties
5. countable noun
If you describe someone or something as a sleeper, you mean that they unexpectedly become successful, often after a long period of being inactive or unknown.
[informal]
...Menno Meyjes, a young Dutch writer, who had had his first success with the sleeper'The Children's Crusade'.
sleeper in British English
(ˈsliːpə)
noun
1.
a person, animal, or thing that sleeps
2.
a railway sleeping car or compartment
3. British
one of the blocks supporting the rails on a railway track
US and Canadian equivalent: tie
4.
a heavy timber beam, esp one that is laid horizontally on the ground
5. mainly British
a small plain gold circle worn in a pierced ear lobe to prevent the hole from closing up
6.
a wrestling hold in which a wrestler presses the sides of an opponent's neck, causing them to pass out
7. US
an unbranded calf
8. Also called: sleeper goby
any gobioid fish of the family Eleotridae, of brackish or fresh tropical waters, resembling the gobies but lacking a ventral sucker
9. informal
a person or thing that achieves unexpected success after an initial period of obscurity
10.
a spy planted in advance for future use, but not currently active
sleeper in American English
(ˈslipər)
noun
1.
a person or animal that sleeps, esp. as specified
a sound sleeper
2.
a timber or beam laid horizontally, as on the ground, to support something aboveit
3. Chiefly British
a tie supporting a railroad track
4. US
sleeping car
5. US
a previously disregarded person or thing that unexpectedly achieves success, assumes importance, etc.
6. Slang
mole2 (sense 2)
7. US
a. [usually pl.]
a kind of pajamas for infants and young children, that enclose the feet
b.
bunting1 (sense 3)
8. US, Bowling
a pin concealed by one in front of it, in bowling for a spare
Word origin
ME slepere < OE slæpere
Examples of 'sleeper' in a sentence
sleeper
People can specifically ask for these rooms if they are light sleepers.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
They had hard sleepers and soft sleepers on trains.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Many jumped over turnstiles or squeezed through gaps in a fence formed from railway sleepers.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Then the curtains to a sleeper compartment drew back and this jolly man said he would help.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Another is made of old railway sleepers.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
They are now one and two years old and they have been very good sleepers from six weeks.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
It should be fine because he's a really good sleeper.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Light sleepers note: things can get a bit lively at weekends.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
In sleeper trains the loo is down the corridor, so what to do?
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
It always sounds like it is away in the distance but loud enough to wake you up if you are a light sleeper.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
I made the initial journey out here by sleeper train and ferry.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
We have collected the wisdom of our critics to give you an insight into this year's sure successes and sleepers.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Are you a good sleeper?
The Sun (2012)
He has put a wall of railway sleepers along one side of the building, so we are now higher than the beach.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
I am a very light sleeper, which makes it worse.
The Sun (2014)
I've always been a good sleeper.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
I am a light sleeper, and it has awakened me.
Arthur Conan Doyle The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
I'm not a good sleeper and sometimes get up in the night and send emails to staff.
The Sun (2010)
It includes hotel and guesthouse stays, and a night in a first-class sleeper carriage.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
From Cairo we took a sleeper train to Aswan.
The Sun (2015)
Friday night passed on the predictably exciting sleeper train from Paddington to Penzance.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
If you're still a purist and consider gold sleepers the height of chic, time to wise up.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
In other languages
sleeper
British English: sleeper NOUN
You can use sleeper to indicate how well someone sleeps. For example, if someone is a light sleeper, they are easily woken up.
I'm a very light sleeper and I can hardly get any sleep at all.
American English: sleeper
Brazilian Portuguese: dormente
Chinese: > 睡眠者 睡眠质量不同的
European Spanish: durmiente
French: dormeur
German: Schläfer
Italian: chi dorme
Japanese: 「眠りが浅い人」「眠りが深い人」などの表現で用いる
Korean: > 잠자는 사람어떠어떠하게
European Portuguese: dormente
Latin American Spanish: durmiente
All related terms of 'sleeper'
car sleeper
a railway car fitted with compartments containing bunks for people to sleep in
rough sleeper
a homeless person who sleeps rough
sleeper goby
any gobioid fish of the family Eleotridae, of brackish or fresh tropical waters, resembling the gobies but lacking a ventral sucker
sleeper seat
a seat, as on an airplane , that can be extended horizontally to permit sleeping
sleeper terrorist
a terrorist who is not currently active but assumes a guise in order to be in position, unsuspected , for future terrorist activities
Chinese translation of 'sleeper'
sleeper
(ˈsliːpəʳ)
n(c)
(Brit)
(= train) 卧(臥)车(車) (wòchē)
(= carriage) 卧(臥)铺(鋪)车(車)厢(廂) (wòpù chēxiāng)
(= berth) 卧(臥)铺(鋪) (wòpù)
(Brit, on track) 枕木 (zhěnmù)
I'm a light/heavy sleeper我是个(個)睡觉(覺)警醒/沉的人 (wǒ shì gè shuìjiào jǐngxǐng/chén de rén)