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to sleep over

to sleep over

63 2.8
To stay at someone else's house for the night
  • phrasal verb
  • /sliːp ˈoʊvər/
  • Informal
translation icon : quedarse a dormir
  • Without school the next day, she had a friend sleep over and they made dinner together.

Like I don't wanna sleep over after we've had sex.

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Examples

  • Three nights a week she practiced ballet after school, and on weekends she slept over at friends' houses.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • The boys are sleeping over.

  • Do you want to sleep over here with me?

  • But it's okay with me if your friends sleep over.

  • I'll be sleeping over tonight.

  • You know there is something going on when a boy sleeps over at a girl's house.

    Blog text (5)
  • How come you didn't sleep over?

  • He's sleeping over at a friend's house.

  • Jane, Mom, is it okay if Angela sleeps over tonight?

    Fiction book (1999)
  • Do you want to sleep over at my house this weekend?

Synonyms

to stay at
vsto sleep over
450 2.0

To live somewhere for a short time, like a hotel or a friend's house

is a single overnight visit as a guest rather than temporary residence
to stay over
vsto sleep over
  • Informal
70 3.0

Sleep at someone else's home for the night

is an overnight visit often unplanned rather than one by invitation

Antonyms

Go away from a place before the usual or expected time

How Temporary

to crash
  • Informal
111 7.0
to kip down
  • UK
9.6
to sleep over
  • Informal
63 2.8
to stay
1.0
to move in
415 1.8

Surface Forms

sleep over infinitive
sleeping over present participle
sleeps over third person singular
slept over past
slept over past participle

Morphology

sleep + over

The meaning 'to stay overnight at someone else's house' is directly derivable from combining 'sleep' (to rest/sleep) with 'over' (indicating duration/throughout or staying at a place), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer an overnight stay. This is a common, literal phrasal-verb pattern in English and has clear parallels in many languages, supporting immediate comprehension.

Etymology

Sleep over comes from the simple picture of sleep + over, where 'over' means staying at someone's house for the night. So it means 'to stay overnight at someone else's place'.