drowse

(drouz)

v. drowsed, drows·ing, drows·es

v.intr.

To be half-asleep: drowsed in the warm sun.

v.tr.

1. To make drowsy: "drowsed with the fume of poppies" (John Keats).

2. To pass (time) by drowsing.

The condition of being sleepy.

[Perhaps ultimately from Old English drūsian, to sink, be sluggish; see dhreu- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

drowse

(draʊz)

to be or cause to be sleepy, dull, or sluggish

the state of being drowsy

[C16: probably from Old English drūsian to sink; related to drēosan to fall]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

drowse

(draʊz)

v. drowsed, drows•ing,
n. v.i.

1. to be sleepy or half-asleep.

2. to be dull or sluggish.

v.t.

3. to pass or spend (time) in drowsing (often fol. by away): He drowsed away the morning.

4. to make sleepy or sluggish.

5. a sleepy or sluggish condition; state of being half-asleep.

[before 900; Old English drūsian to droop]

drowse

Past participle: drowsed
Gerund: drowsing

Imperative
drowse
drowse

Present
I drowse
you drowse
he/she/it drowses
we drowse
you drowse
they drowse

Preterite
I drowsed
you drowsed
he/she/it drowsed
we drowsed
you drowsed
they drowsed

Present Continuous
I am drowsing
you are drowsing
he/she/it is drowsing
we are drowsing
you are drowsing
they are drowsing

Present Perfect
I have drowsed
you have drowsed
he/she/it has drowsed
we have drowsed
you have drowsed
they have drowsed

Past Continuous
I was drowsing
you were drowsing
he/she/it was drowsing
we were drowsing
you were drowsing
they were drowsing

Past Perfect
I had drowsed
you had drowsed
he/she/it had drowsed
we had drowsed
you had drowsed
they had drowsed

Future
I will drowse
you will drowse
he/she/it will drowse
we will drowse
you will drowse
they will drowse

Future Perfect
I will have drowsed
you will have drowsed
he/she/it will have drowsed
we will have drowsed
you will have drowsed
they will have drowsed

Future Continuous
I will be drowsing
you will be drowsing
he/she/it will be drowsing
we will be drowsing
you will be drowsing
they will be drowsing

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been drowsing
you have been drowsing
he/she/it has been drowsing
we have been drowsing
you have been drowsing
they have been drowsing

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been drowsing
you will have been drowsing
he/she/it will have been drowsing
we will have been drowsing
you will have been drowsing
they will have been drowsing

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been drowsing
you had been drowsing
he/she/it had been drowsing
we had been drowsing
you had been drowsing
they had been drowsing

Conditional
I would drowse
you would drowse
he/she/it would drowse
we would drowse
you would drowse
they would drowse

Past Conditional
I would have drowsed
you would have drowsed
he/she/it would have drowsed
we would have drowsed
you would have drowsed
they would have drowsed

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	drowse - a light fitful sleep doze sleeping - the suspension of consciousness and decrease in metabolic rate
Verb	1.	drowse - sleep lightly or for a short period of time doze, snooze catch a wink, catnap, nap - take a siesta; "She naps everyday after lunch for an hour"
	2.	drowse - be on the verge of sleeping; "The students were drowsing in the 8 AM class" rest - be at rest nod - be almost asleep; "The old man sat nodding by the fireplace" dope off, doze off, drift off, drowse off, fall asleep, flake out, nod off, drop off - change from a waking to a sleeping state; "he always falls asleep during lectures"

drowse

verb

1. sleep, drop off (informal), doze, nap, slumber, kip (Brit. slang), snooze (informal), nod off, get some shut-eye, zizz (Brit. informal), have or get forty winks, catch some zeds (informal) She drowsed for a while.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

sonnecchiare sonnolento sonnolenza

doezelen

drowse

[draʊz] VI → dormitar
to drowse off → adormilarse

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

drowse

[ˈdraʊz] vi → somnoler

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

drowse

vi (→ vor sich (acc) → hin) dösen or dämmern

n → Halbschlaf m, → Dämmerschlaf m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

drowse

[draʊz] vi → sonnecchiare, essere mezzo assopito/a

drowse

v. adormecerse, adormitarse.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

After I had fallen over eight or nine precipices and thus found out that one half of my brain had been asleep eight or nine times without the wide-awake, hard-working other half suspecting it, the periodical unconsciousnesses began to extend their spell gradually over more of my brain-territory, and at last I sank into a drowse which grew deeper and deeper and was doubtless just on the very point of being a solid, blessed dreamless stupor, when--what was that?

The mouse eventually retired, and by and by I was sinking to sleep, when a clock began to strike; I counted till it was done, and was about to drowse again when another clock began; I counted; then the two great RATHHAUS clock angels began to send forth soft, rich, melodious blasts from their long trumpets.

View in context

He would not let her get up to dinner, but fed her himself, and then forgot his own while he sat watching her fall into a drowse, for Aunt Plenty's cordial made her sleepy.

She lay so several hours for the drowse deepened into a heavy sleep, and Uncle Alec, still at his post, saw with growing anxiety that a feverish colour began to burn in her cheeks, that her breathing was quick and uneven, and now and then she gave a little moan, as if in pain.

View in context

a secular upward trend in vapid glee as flowers their idle sweets exhale, relays love to the fathomed packhorse so-and-so, the bees drowse out, investment peaks and suds of gamer prattle spray from washed-out mouths, the grace of trended variables to be borne not of yourselves This satiric tendency grows stronger across Sutherland's career, preserving fossils of lyric grace within the flaccid ambient textures of a prosaic lowest common denominator.

Keston Sutherland, Poetical Works 1999-2015

I haven't missed a day since, and no, I don't drowse off.

To have the spirit of Christmas

They like to lie on warm stones and drowse in the heat.

Surviving the summer heat

The brain helps with that by introducing melatonin, a hormone that prepares the body to drowse and to drift into sleep.

Sleeping well is solution to many social problems

Married in August's heat and drowse, lover and friend in your chosen spouse.

Should we be afraid of Friday 13th? Tom Slemen looks into the superstitions surrounding this auspicious date

But when the fires of autumn have burned down to umber and dark purple, when the cattails hold up their tawny cylinders in the swale, when the soft mists hang on the fading horizon, time seems to stop and drowse in the sunny corner of the orchard, you know that Indian summer has captured the earth.

Indian summer on the farm

Rising from a tropical jungle in the heart of downtown, the house was magical, a treetop sanctuary with a big wraparound deck where cats would drowse in the sun-dappled shade of palms, bamboo and mango trees.

From the editor: remembering chamberlain