drowse

Meaning

Verb

1. (transitive) To make (someone or something) heavy with drowsiness or sleepiness.
2. (transitive) Followed by away: to pass (time) drowsily or in sleeping; also, to proceed (on a way) drowsily or sleepily.
3. (figuratively, transitive) To make (someone or something) dull or inactive, as if from sleepiness.
4. (intransitive) Often followed by away or off: to be drowsy or sleepy; to be half-asleep.
5. (figuratively, intransitive) To be dull or inactive, as if from sleepiness.

Noun

1. An act, or a state, of being drowsy or sleepy.
2. (figuratively) A state of dullness or inactivity, as if from sleepiness.

Synonyms

doze

slumber

sleep

😴

nap

snooze

catnap

drowsiness

nod

get sleepy

be sleepy

half-sleep

doze off

flake out

roost

sleepiness

sleepy

😪

somnolence

drowse off

Translations

sonnecchiare

somnoler

uyuklamak

dormitar

schlummern

uyuklama

dormicchiare

νυστάζω

dormire

😴

endormiscar-se

μισοκοιμάμαι

dormisquejar

pineklemek

ratzen

😴

Pronounced as (IPA)

/dɹaʊz/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: *drousen

Inherited from Old English: drūsan

Cognate with Dutch: drozen

Cognate with German: trauern

Cognate with Danish: drøse

Cognate with Norwegian: døse

Cognate with Swedish: drösa

Cognate with Old English: drēosan

Cognate with Middle English: dresen

Cognate with Gothic: 𐌳𐍂𐌹𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌽

In summary

The verb is either:
* a back-formation from drowsy, which is attested earlier; or
* possibly from Middle English *drousen (no known attestations), from Old English drūsan, drūsian (“to droop, sink; to become feeble, inactive, low, or slow, drowse”), from Proto-Germanic *drūsijaną (“to look down; mourn”) (possibly merged with *dreusaną (“to fall”)), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewHs- (“to break off; to to fall down”).
The noun is derived from the verb.
cognates
* Danish drøse (“to be negligent; to slow down”)
* Dutch drozen (“to doze; muse”)
* German trauern (“to mourn, be sad”)
* Gothic 𐌳𐍂𐌹𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌽 (driusan, “to fall; to fall down”)
* Norwegian døse (“to drowse”)
* Old English drēosan (“to fall; to perish; to rush”) (whence Middle English dresen (“to fall down”))
* Swedish drösa (“to be slow”)