to feel sleepy
- phrasal verb
- After reading for a while, I started to feel sleepy and decided to take a nap.
- feel sleepy while driving
So it also influences when you start to feel sleepy in the latter end of the day.
- So it also influences when you start to feel sleepy in the latter end of the day.
- So I will then feel sleepy at the right time and I can kind of keep that virtuous cycle going.
- So the adenosine is still building up, but the reason that you don't feel sleepy anymore when you've had a shot of caffeine is because caffeine has raced in.
Examples
-
Do you ever feel sleepy while driving?
Academic text (2006) -
Do you ever feel sleepy when driving?
Academic text (2006) -
Any of you guys feel sleepy?
-
You are already feeling sleepy.
-
But then the pictures began to slow down, and I began to feel sleepy.
Fiction book (1994) -
I finished my wine and suddenly felt sleepy.
Fiction book (1999) -
It's probably why you're feeling sleepy too.
-
The sun warmed me and made my body feel sleepy.
Fiction book (2000) -
I have drunk two glasses of wine already and am starting to feel sleepy and complacent.
Fiction book (1997) -
As you begin to feel sleepy, think about the magnificent job that you've done and how proud your family are of what you've accomplished.
Antonyms
How Sleepy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to begin to experience drowsiness' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'feel' (to experience) with 'sleepy' (drowsy), forming a standard predicative verb + adjective construction. This compositional pattern is common in English and cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand the MWE.
Etymology
The phrase feel sleepy paints a simple picture: your body starts to feel heavy and your eyes want to close because you are sleepy. That's why feel sleepy means 'to want to sleep'.