doze /dəʊz $ doʊz/ BrE AmE verb [intransitive]
[ Date: 1600-1700 ; Origin: From a Scandinavian language; related to Old Norse dúsa 'to sleep lightly' ]
to sleep lightly for a short time:
Grandad was dozing in his chair.
—doze noun [singular]
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THESAURUS
▪ sleep to rest your mind and body with your eyes closed. Sleep is usually used when talking about how long, how deeply, or where someone sleeps. When saying that someone is not awake, you use be asleep :
Most people sleep for about eight hours.
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He slept downstairs.
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Did you sleep well?
▪ be asleep to be sleeping:
The baby’s asleep – don’t wake her.
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He was fast asleep (=completely asleep) by the time I got home.
▪ oversleep to sleep for longer than you intended so that you wake up late in the morning:
I overslept and was late for work.
▪ take a nap ( also have a nap especially British English ) ( also have forty winks informal ) to sleep for a short time during the day:
I think I’ll have a nap.
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She had been awake all night and was looking forward to taking a nap.
▪ have/take a snooze informal to sleep for a short time, especially in a chair, not in a bed:
I think I’ll have a quick snooze.
▪ doze to sleep lightly, for example in a chair, and be easily woken:
I wasn’t really asleep – I was just dozing.
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I must have dozed off (=started sleeping) halfway through the film.
▪ kip British English informal to sleep somewhere, especially somewhere that is not your home – a very informal use:
I kipped at my mate’s for a couple of days.
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Is it alright if I kip on the floor?
doze off phrasal verb
to go to sleep, especially when you did not intend to SYN drop off , nod off :
I must have dozed off.