dream

[dreem] /drim/
noun
1.
a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep.
2.
the sleeping state in which this occurs.
3.
an object seen in a dream.
4.
an involuntary vision occurring to a person when awake.
5.
a vision voluntarily indulged in while awake; daydream; reverie.
6.
an aspiration; goal; aim:
A trip to Europe is his dream.
7.
a wild or vain fancy.
8.
something of an unreal beauty, charm, or excellence.
verb (used without object), dreamed or dreamt, dreaming.
9.
to have a dream.
10.
to indulge in daydreams or reveries:
He dreamed about vacation plans when he should have been working.
11.
to think or conceive of something in a very remote way (usually followed by of):
I wouldn't dream of asking them.
verb (used with object), dreamed or dreamt, dreaming.
12.
to see or imagine in sleep or in a vision.
13.
to imagine as if in a dream; fancy; suppose.
14.
to pass or spend (time) in dreaming (often followed by away):
to dream away the afternoon.
adjective
15.
most desirable; ideal:
a dream vacation.
Verb phrases
16.
dream up, to form in the imagination; devise:
They dreamed up the most impossible plan.
Origin
1200-50; Middle English dreem, Old English drēam joy, mirth, gladness, cognate with Old Saxon drōm mirth, dream, Old Norse draumr, Old High German troum dream; modern sense first recorded in ME but presumably also current in Old English, as in Old Saxon
Related forms
dreamful, adjective
dreamfully, adverb
dreamfulness, noun
dreamingly, adverb
dreamlike, adjective
redream, verb, redreamed or redreamt, redreaming.
undreamed, adjective
undreaming, adjective
undreamlike, adjective
Synonyms
1. Dream, nightmare, and vision refer to the kinds of mental images that form during sleep. Dream is the general term for any such succession of images. A nightmare is a dream that brings fear or anxiety: frightened by a nightmare. Vision refers to a series of images of unusual vividness, clarity, order, and significance, sometimes seen in a dream.
British Dictionary definitions for dream up

dream up

verb
1.
(transitive, adverb) to invent by ingenuity and imagination: to dream up an excuse for leaving

dream

/driːm/
noun
1.
  1. mental activity, usually in the form of an imagined series of events, occurring during certain phases of sleep
  2. (as modifier): a dream sequence
  3. (in combination): dreamland, related adjective oneiric
2.
  1. a sequence of imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake; daydream; fantasy
  2. (as modifier): a dream world
3.
a person or thing seen or occurring in a dream
4.
a cherished hope; ambition; aspiration
5.
a vain hope
6.
a person or thing that is as pleasant, or seemingly unreal, as a dream
7.
go like a dream, to move, develop, or work very well
verb dreams, dreaming, dreamed, dreamt (drɛmt)
8.
(may take a clause as object) to undergo or experience (a dream or dreams)
9.
(intransitive) to indulge in daydreams
10.
(intransitive) to suffer delusions; be unrealistic: you're dreaming if you think you can win
11.
when intr, foll by of or about. to have an image (of) or fantasy (about) in or as if in a dream
12.
(intransitive) foll by of. to consider the possibility (of): I wouldn't dream of troubling you
adjective
13.
too good to be true; ideal: dream kitchen
See also dream up
Derived Forms
dreamful, adjective
dreamfully, adverb
dreaming, noun, adjective
dreamingly, adverb
dreamless, adjective
dreamlessly, adverb
dreamlessness, noun
dreamlike, adjective
Word Origin
Old English drēam song; related to Old High German troum, Old Norse draumr, Greek thrulos noise
Word Origin and History for dream up

dream

n.

mid-13c. in the sense "sequence of sensations passing through a sleeping person's mind" (also as a verb), probably related to Old Norse draumr, Danish drøm, Swedish dröm, Old Saxon drom "merriment, noise," Old Frisian dram "dream," Dutch droom, Old High German troum, German traum "dream," perhaps from West Germanic *draugmas "deception, illusion, phantasm" (cf. Old Saxon bidriogan, Old High German triogan, German trügen "to deceive, delude," Old Norse draugr "ghost, apparition"). Possible cognates outside Germanic are Sanskrit druh- "seek to harm, injure," Avestan druz- "lie, deceive."

But Old English dream meant only "joy, mirth, noisy merriment," also "music." And much study has failed to prove that Old English dream is the root of the modern word for "sleeping vision," despite being identical in spelling. Either the meaning of the word changed dramatically or "vision" was an unrecorded secondary Old English meaning of dream, or there are two separate words here. OED offers this theory: "It seems as if the presence of dream 'joy, mirth, music,' had caused dream 'dream' to be avoided, at least in literature, and swefn, lit. 'sleep,' to be substituted" ....

Words for "sleeping vision" in Old English were mæting and swefn. Old English swefn originally meant "sleep," as did a great many Indo-European "dream" nouns, e.g. Lithuanian sapnas, Old Church Slavonic sunu, and the Romanic words (French songe, Spanish sueño, Italian sogno all from Latin somnium (from PIE *swep-no-; cognate with Greek hypnos; see somnolence; Old English swefn is from the same root). Dream in the sense of "ideal or aspiration" is from 1931, from earlier sense of "something of dream-like beauty or charm" (1888).

v.

c.1200 in the current sense, from dream (n.). Old English verb dremen meant "rejoice; play music." Related: Dreamed; dreaming.

dream up in Medicine

dream (drēm)
n.
A series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.

Slang definitions & phrases for dream up

dream up

verb phrase

To invent; confect in the mind: Julian has to start dreaming up a story/ conceptions of living dreamed up by such groups as the Mormons (1940s+)


dream

Related Terms

pipe dream, wet dream


dream up in the Bible

God has frequently made use of dreams in communicating his will to men. The most remarkable instances of this are recorded in the history of Jacob (Gen. 28:12; 31:10), Laban (31:24), Joseph (37:9-11), Gideon (Judg. 7), and Solomon (1 Kings 3:5). Other significant dreams are also recorded, such as those of Abimelech (Gen. 20:3-7), Pharaoh's chief butler and baker (40:5), Pharaoh (41:1-8), the Midianites (Judg. 7:13), Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:1; 4:10, 18), the wise men from the east (Matt. 2:12), and Pilate's wife (27:19). To Joseph "the Lord appeared in a dream," and gave him instructions regarding the infant Jesus (Matt. 1:20; 2:12, 13, 19). In a vision of the night a "man of Macedonia" stood before Paul and said, "Come over into Macedonia and help us" (Acts 16:9; see also 18:9; 27:23).

Idioms and Phrases with dream up

dream up

Invent, concoct, as in Count on her to dream up some explanation for her absence. This expression replaced the somewhat earlier dream out. [ c. 1940 ]

dream

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