forty winks
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
A short nap. The Forty Immortals (or simply the Forty). The members of the French Academy, who number forty.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “forty winks” mean?
A short nap. The Forty Immortals (or simply the Forty). The members of the French Academy, who number forty.
Is “forty winks” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.