sleeping partner
- noun
- /ˈsliːpɪŋ ˈpɑːrtənər/
:
socio capitalista
- The firm benefited from a sleeping partner who helped fund their projects while remaining anonymous.
Examples
-
I didn't know it at the time, but he was Morley's sleeping partner in the business.
Fiction book (2001) -
As a sleeping partner, she invested money in the startup but did not interfere in its daily operations.
-
He'd asked her what was so funny, and Ruth told him Eleanor had said she'd want to be more than just a "sleeping partner."
Fiction book (1998) -
For instance, when Bismarck made his alliance with Austria in 1879, he counted England as a "sleeping partner" because of the convergence of British and Austrian interests in the Balkans.
Academic text (1990) -
You gently tug the blankets down from the softly clenched fingers of your sleeping partner, unbutton his pajamas, and fold them back so his chest is exposed.
Fiction book (1996) -
Many successful businesses have sleeping partners who provide necessary capital without being involved in management.
Synonyms
13
6.0
A person who gives money to a business but does not help run it or show they are involved
How Active
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense follows a metaphorical extension: 'sleeping' (inactive/asleep) + 'partner' (business associate) yields the idea of a partner who does not take an active role, so learners can infer 'inactive partner' from the parts. However, the precise business nuance — that they typically provide capital, avoid management, or are not publicly associated with the firm — is specialized and not fully predictable from the constituents, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The term sleeping partner comes from the simple image of a person who is sleeping while others run the business, a partner who stays in the background and does no daily work. That's why it means someone who 'gives money' but 'does not manage' the company.