dream

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English drem, from Old English drēam (“music, joy”), from Proto-West Germanic *draum, from Proto-Germanic *draumaz, from earlier *draugmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrowgʰ-mos, from *dʰrewgʰ- (“to deceive, injure, damage”).

The sense of "dream", though not attested in Old English, may still have been present (compare Old Saxon drōm (“bustle, revelry, jubilation", also "dream”)), and was undoubtedly reinforced later in Middle English by Old Norse draumr (“dream”), from same Proto-Germanic root.

Cognate with Scots dreme (“dream”), Saterland Frisian Droom (“dream”), West Frisian dream (“dream”), Dutch droom (“dream”), German Traum (“dream”), Limburgish Droum (“dream”), Luxembourgish Dram (“dream”), Yiddish טרוים (troym, “dream”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål drøm, Faroese dreymur (“dream”), Icelandic draumur (“dream”), Norwegian Nynorsk draum (“dream”), Swedish dröm (“dream”). Related also to Old Norse draugr (“ghost, undead, spectre”), Dutch bedrog (“deception, deceit”), German Trug (“deception, illusion”).

more details

The derivation from Old English drēam is controversial, since the word itself is only attested in writing in its meaning of “joy, mirth, musical sound”. Possibly there was a separate word drēam meaning “images seen while sleeping”, which was avoided in literature due to potential confusion with the “joy” sense. Otherwise, the modern sense must have been borrowed from another Germanic language, most probably Old Norse.[1] Since this is the common sense in all Germanic languages outside the British isles, a spontaneous development from “joy, mirth” to “dream” in Middle English is hardly conceivable. In Old Saxon, the cognate drōm did mean “dream”, but was a rare word.

Attested words for “sleeping vision” in Old English, both of which appeared in The Dream of the Rood, were mǣting (Middle English mæte, mete), from an unclear source, and swefn (Modern English sweven), from Proto-Germanic *swefnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *swepno-, *swep-; compare Ancient Greek ὕπνος (húpnos, “sleep”).

The verb is from Middle English dremen, possibly (see above) from Old English drīeman (“to make a joyous sound with voice or with instrument; rejoice; sing a song; play on an instrument”), from Proto-Germanic *draumijaną, *draugmijaną (“to be festive, dream, hallucinate”), from the noun. Cognate with Scots dreme (“to dream”), Saterland Frisian drööme (“to dream”), West Frisian dreame (“to dream”), Dutch dromen (“to dream”), German träumen (“to dream”), Luxembourgish dreemen (“to dream”), Yiddish טרוימען (troymen, “to dream”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål drømme (“to dream”), Faroese droyma (“to dream”), Icelandic dreyma (“to dream”), Norwegian Nynorsk drømma, drømme, drøyma, drøyme (“to dream”), Swedish drömma (“to dream, muse”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: drēm, IPA(key): /dɹiːm/, [d͡ʒɹʷiːm], [d̠͡ɹ̠˔ʷiːm]
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːm

Noun

dream (plural dreams)

  2. (countable) Imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping.
    Synonym: (archaic) sweven
    Hyponym: nightmare
    have a dream
    scary dream
    vivid dream
    erotic dream
    feel like a dream
    be in a dream
  4. (countable, figurative) A hope or wish.
    have a dream
    fulfil a dream
    harbour a dream
    realize a dream
    • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
      So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
    • 1963 August 28, Martin Luther King, I have a Dream‎[1]:
      I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!
    • 2012 August 5, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993)”, in AV Club:
      Ralph Wiggum is generally employed as a bottomless fount of glorious non sequiturs, but in “I Love Lisa” he stands in for every oblivious chump who ever deluded himself into thinking that with persistence, determination, and a pure heart he can win the girl of his dreams.
    • 2010, Jonathan Green, Murder in the High Himalaya: Loyalty, Tragedy, and Escape from Tibet‎[2], 1st edition (Politics), PublicAffairs, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 33:
      More likely than capture is death at the hands of Chinese border police. Killings like that of fifteen-year-old Yeshe Dundrub, shot at night in Saga County (Ch: Saga Xian) in November 1999, while fleeing with forty others to Nepal, are covered up when possible. (Dundrub, whose dream was to be a monk, died in a military hospital bed nine hours after he was shot.)
  5. A visionary scheme; a wild conceit; an idle fancy.
    Synonym: vision
    live in a dream
    wake up from a dream
    impossible dream
    a dream of bliss
    the dream of his youth
    • c. 1735, Alexander Pope, John Donne's Satires Versified:
      There sober thought pursued the amusing theme,
      Till Fancy coloured it and formed a dream.
    • 1870, John Shairp, Culture and Religion:
      It is not, then, a mere dream, but a very real aim which they propose.

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

dream (third-person singular simple present dreams, present participle dreaming, simple past and past participle dreamed or dreamt)

  1. (intransitive) To see imaginary events in one's mind while sleeping.
    Last night I dreamed I was leaping over giant cupcakes and chocolate cookies.
  2. (intransitive) To hope, to wish.
    Lucy dreams of becoming a scientist when she'll grow up.
  3. (intransitive) To daydream.
    Stop dreaming and get back to work.
  4. (transitive) To envision as an imaginary experience (usually when asleep).
    I dreamed a vivid dream last night.
  5. (intransitive) To consider the possibility (of).
    I wouldn't dream of snubbing you in public.
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v], lines 167-8:
      There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
      Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
      But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection.
      […] The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window […], and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them.

Usage notes

  • "Dreamt" is less common than "dreamed" in both US and UK English in current usage, though somewhat more prevalent in the UK than in the US.
  • As with say and think, the argument of the intransitive verb is often a bare clause, as in  I dreamed I was a superhero.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

dream (not comparable)

  1. Ideal; perfect.
    • 1975, David Bowie, “Golden Years”, in Station to Station:
      Gonna drive back down where you once belonged / In the back of a dream car, twenty foot long
    • 2014, P.G. Wodehouse, Jeeves and the Yule-Tide Spirit and Other Stories, Random House, →ISBN, page 158:
      If a girl who talked like that was not his dream girl, he didn't know a dream girl when he heard one.
    • 2017 November 14, Phil McNulty, “England 0-0 Brazil”, in BBC News‎[3]:
      England found chances a rarity, although Liverpool striker Solanke almost made it a dream debut in the closing seconds, only to miscontrol at the far post.

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “dream”, in Online Etymology Dictionary..

Further reading

Anagrams

Hawaiian Creole

Etymology

Derived from English dream.

Noun

dream

  1. (countable) dream (imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping)
    • 2000, “Jesus Guys 2”, in Joseph Grimes, transl., Da Jesus Book: Hawaii Pidgin New Testament‎[4], Wycliffe Bible Translators, →ISBN, page 314:
      God wen say, ‘Dis wat I goin do in da last days, I goin make my Spirit take charge a all da peopo. Yoa boys an yoa girls goin talk fo me. Yoa young guys goin see spesho tings. An yoa old guys goin dream plenny dreams.
      “And it will happen that, in the last days, God will say, ‘I will pour out from my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your young men will have visions, and your old men will have dreams,’

Verb

dream

  1. (intransitive) To dream (see imaginary events in one's mind while sleeping).
    • 2000, “Jesus Guys 2”, in Joseph Grimes, transl., Da Jesus Book: Hawaii Pidgin New Testament‎[5], Wycliffe Bible Translators, →ISBN, page 314:
      God wen say, ‘Dis wat I goin do in da last days, I goin make my Spirit take charge a all da peopo. Yoa boys an yoa girls goin talk fo me. Yoa young guys goin see spesho tings. An yoa old guys goin dream plenny dreams.
      “And it will happen that, in the last days, God will say, ‘I will pour out from my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your young men will have visions, and your old men will dream,’

Irish

FWOTD – 16 February 2014

Etymology

From Middle Irish dremm (“crowd, throng”),[1] from Proto-Celtic *drexsmā, itself probably related to *drungos (“throng, host”).

Pronunciation

Noun

dream m (genitive singular dreama, nominative plural dreamanna)

  1. crowd, group of people, party (group of people traveling or attending an event together, or participating in the same activity)
    • 1929, Tomás Ó Criomhthain, “IV: Scolaidheacht agus Fánaidheacht”, in An t-Oileánach, page 48:
      Thug sé scilling do’n té ab’ fhearr is gach rang agus ar shíneadh na scillinge ’nár rang-ne ní h-aenne de’n dream mór do fuair í ach me féin.
      He gave a shilling to the best one in each class, and when he was giving out shillings in our class, there wasn't one in that big group who got one but me myself.

Declension

Declension of dream (third declension)
bare forms
singular plural
nominative dream dreamanna
vocative a dhream a dhreamanna
genitive dreama dreamanna
dative dream dreamanna
forms with the definite article
singular plural
nominative an dream na dreamanna
genitive an dreama na ndreamanna
dative leis an dream
don dream 		leis na dreamanna

Mutation

Mutated forms of dream
radical lenition eclipsis
dream dhream ndream

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

  1. ^ Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “drem(m)”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
  2. ^ Dillon, Myles; Donncha Ó Cróinín (1961), Teach Yourself Irish, Sevenoaks, England: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN, page 224
  3. ^ Ó Sé, Diarmuid (2000), Gaeilge Chorca Dhuibhne [The Irish of Corkaguiny] (in Irish), Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann [Linguistics Institute of Ireland], →ISBN, section 537
  4. ^ Ó Máille, T. S. (1974), Liosta Focal as Ros Muc [Word List from Rosmuck] (in Irish), Baile Átha Cliath [Dublin]: Irish University Press, →ISBN, page 75
  5. ^ Finck, F. N. (1899), Die araner mundart [The Aran Dialect] (in German), Zweiter Band: Wörterbuch [Second volume: Dictionary], Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 87
  6. ^ Quiggin, E. C. (1906), A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, § 4, page 5

Further reading

Middle English

Noun

dream

  1. (Early Middle English) alternative form of drem

Old English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *draum, from Proto-Germanic *draumaz, whence also Old Frisian drām, Old Saxon drōm (“joy, music, dream”), Old High German troum, Old Norse draumr.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dræ͜ɑːm/

Noun

drēam m

  1. joy, pleasure, gladness, rejoicing
    • 10th century, The Wanderer:
      Wōriað þā wīnsalo; · waldend liċġað
      drēame bidrorene; · duguþ eal ġecrong,
      wlonc bī wealle. · Sume wīġ fornōm,
      The wine-halls ramble; lords lie still,
      deprived of mirth; army completely perished,
      proud by the wall. The war took away some men,
  2. that which causes merriment: musical instrument, music, melody, song, harmony
  3. frenzy, ecstasy

Declension

Strong a-stem:

singular plural
nominative drēam drēamas
accusative drēam drēamas
genitive drēames drēama
dative drēame drēamum

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Middle English: drem, dreme, dreem, dreeme, dream, dræm (Early Middle English)
    • English: dream
    • Scots: dreme

See also

Scots

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English drem, from Old English drēam (“music, joy”), from Proto-West Germanic *draum, from Proto-Germanic *draumaz, from earlier *draugmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrowgʰ-mos, from *dʰrewgʰ- (“to deceive, injure, damage”).

The sense of "dream", though not attested in Old English, may still have been present (compare Old Saxon drōm (“bustle, revelry, jubilation", also "dream”)), and was undoubtedly reinforced later in Middle English by Old Norse draumr (“dream”), from same Proto-Germanic root.

Cognate with English dream, Saterland Frisian Droom (“dream”), West Frisian dream (“dream”), Dutch droom (“dream”), German Traum (“dream”), Limburgish Droum (“dream”), Luxembourgish Dram (“dream”), Yiddish טרוים (troym, “dream”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål drøm, Faroese dreymur (“dream”), Icelandic draumur (“dream”), Norwegian Nynorsk draum (“dream”), Swedish dröm (“dream”). Related also to Old Norse draugr (“ghost, undead, spectre”), Dutch bedrog (“deception, deceit”), German Trug (“deception, illusion”).

more details

The derivation from Old English drēam is controversial, since the word itself is only attested in writing in its meaning of “joy, mirth, musical sound”. Possibly there was a separate word drēam meaning “images seen while sleeping”, which was avoided in literature due to potential confusion with the “joy” sense. Otherwise, the modern sense must have been borrowed from another Germanic language, most probably Old Norse.[1] Since this is the common sense in all Germanic languages outside the British isles, a spontaneous development from “joy, mirth” to “dream” in Middle English is hardly conceivable. In Old Saxon, the cognate drōm did mean “dream”, but was a rare word.

Attested words for “sleeping vision” in Old English, both of which appeared in The Dream of the Rood, were mǣting (Middle English mæte, mete), from an unclear source, and swefn (Modern English sweven), from Proto-Germanic *swefnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *swepno-, *swep-; compare Ancient Greek ὕπνος (húpnos, “sleep”).

The verb is from Middle English dremen, possibly (see above) from Old English drīeman (“to make a joyous sound with voice or with instrument; rejoice; sing a song; play on an instrument”), from Proto-Germanic *draumijaną, *draugmijaną (“to be festive, dream, hallucinate”), from the noun. Cognate with Scots dreme (“to dream”), Saterland Frisian drööme (“to dream”), West Frisian dreame (“to dream”), Dutch dromen (“to dream”), German träumen (“to dream”), Luxembourgish dreemen (“to dream”), Yiddish טרוימען (troymen, “to dream”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål drømme (“to dream”), Faroese droyma (“to dream”), Icelandic dreyma (“to dream”), Norwegian Nynorsk drømma, drømme, drøyma, drøyme (“to dream”), Swedish drömma (“to dream, muse”).

Noun

dream (plural dreams)

  1. (countable) dream (imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping)
    • 1904, “Matthew, I”, in William Wye Smith, transl., The New Testament in Braid Scots‎[6], Paisley: Alexander Gardner, page 1:
      But as he had thir things in his mind, see ! an Angel o’ the Lord appearit till him by a dream, sayin, “Joseph, son o’ Dauvid, binna feared to tak till ye yere wife, Mary ; for that whilk is begotten in her is by the Holie Spirit.
      As he was thinking about these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife, for she is pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
  2. (countable, figurative) dream (a hope or wish)
    • 1919, Sir Harry Lauder, Between You and Me‎[7], New York: The James A. McCann Company, page 107:
      Aye, it was a strange thing in yon days to be knowing that the dreams the wife and I had had for the bairn could be coming true.
      Yes, back then it was odd knowing that the dreams that my wife and I had for our child could be coming true.

Verb

dream (third-person singular simple present dreams, present participle dreamin, simple past dreamt, past participle dreamt)

  1. (intransitive) To dream (see imaginary events in one's mind while sleeping).
    • 1904, “Acts, II”, in William Wye Smith, transl., The New Testament in Braid Scots‎[8], Paisley: Alexander Gardner, page 149:
      “‘And it sal be i’ the hinnermaist days, says God, I teem oot my Spirit on a’ flesh ; and yere sons and yere dochters sall prophesie, and yere young men sal see visions, and yere auld men sal dream their dreams.
      “And it will happen that, in the last days, God will say, ‘I will pour out from my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your young men will have visions, and your old men will dream,’
  2. (intransitive) To dream (hope, to wish).
    • 1919, Sir Harry Lauder, Between You and Me‎[9], New York: The James A. McCann Company, page 106:
      I had done most of my work in Scotland when Mac and I and the wife began first really to dream aloud aboot my gae’in to London.
      I did most of my work in Scotland when Mac, myself, and my wife first started really dreaming out loud about my trip to London.

References

  • Eagle, Andy, editor (2025), “dream”, in The Online Scots Dictionary‎[10]

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Middle Irish dremm (“crowd, throng”),[2] from Proto-Celtic *drexsmā, itself probably related to *drungos (“throng, host”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /d̪̊ɾaum/
  • (Wester Ross) IPA(key): /d̪̊ɾeːm/, /d̪̊ɾɛ̃um/[3]

Noun

dream m (plural dreamannan)

  1. kindred, tribe, company
    is rìoghail mo dhream ― royal is my race (motto of Clan MacGregor)
  2. (chiefly biblical) people, folk
  3. category

Mutation

Mutation of dream
radical lenition
dream dhream

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Scottish Gaelic.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “dream”, in Online Etymology Dictionary..
  2. ^ Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “drem(m)”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
  3. ^ Wentworth, Roy (2003), Gaelic Words and Phrases From Wester Ross / Faclan is Abairtean à Ros an Iar, Inverness: CLÀR, →ISBN

Further reading

  • Edward Dwelly (1911), “dream”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎[11], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian drām, from Proto-West Germanic *draum, from Proto-Germanic *draumaz.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /drɪə̯m/

Noun

dream c (plural dreamen, diminutive dreamke)

  1. dream, vision in one's sleep
    • 2008, Greet Andringa, Libben reach, Friese Pers Boekerij, page 70.
      Hy koe net sliepe, want de dreamen oer syn deade maten wiene noch slimmer as wat er mei de eagen iepen seach.
      He couldn't sleep, because the dreams about his dead companions were even worse than what he saw with his eyes open.
  2. daydream
  3. desire, what one wishes
  4. delusion

Derived terms

  • deidream

Further reading

  • “dream”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
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