like a dormouse
- idiom
- Informal
:
como un lirón
- She curled up on the sofa and was soon sleeping like a dormouse.
Examples
-
Babies often sleep like a dormouse after a warm bath.
-
Don't wake her; she's sleeping like a dormouse!
-
After the long hike, he slept like a dormouse all night.
-
He sleeps like a dormouse!
-
After the long hike, he slept like a dormouse all night.
-
Babies often sleep like a dormouse after a warm bath.
-
She curled up on the sofa and was soon sleeping like a dormouse.
Synonyms
73
1.0
Become not awake
19
2.5
Resting very deeply and not easy to wake
19
3.2
Resting very deeply and not waking easily
Calm and quiet in a way that makes you feel sleepy
A calm, quiet mood that makes you feel sleepy
Antonyms
How Asleep
- Informal
19
3.2
∞
1.0
142
1.0
22
2.7
432
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'sleeping very deeply' is directly derivable from the simile structure 'like' + 'dormouse' because a dormouse is known for long, deep hibernation; a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the comparison. This animal-simile pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows straightforward compositional logic, so the expression is transparent to learners who know the words.
Etymology
Like a dormouse comes from the small animal called a dormouse, which sleeps through the winter and looks very still. Because the dormouse sleeps so deeply, saying someone sleeps like a dormouse means 'sleeping very deeply or soundly'.