to sleep like a top
Preserved but no longer current.
Excellently, go the night through without waking or discomfort. When peg-tops are at the acme of their gyration they become so steady and quiet that they do not seem to move; in this state they are said to "sleep.
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 “to sleep like a top” mean?
Excellently, go the night through without waking or discomfort. When peg-tops are at the acme of their gyration they become so steady and quiet that they do not seem to move; in this state they are said to "sleep.
Is “to sleep like a top” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.