dream

Etymology

From Middle English drem, from Old English drēam (“music, joy”), from Proto-West Germanic *draum, from Proto-Germanic *draumaz, from earlier *draugmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrowgʰ-mos, from *dʰrewgʰ- (“to deceive, injure, damage”). The sense of "dream", though not attested in Old English, may still have been present (compare Old Saxon drōm (“bustle, revelry, jubilation", also "dream”)), and was undoubtedly reinforced later in Middle English by Old Norse draumr (“dream”), from same Proto-Germanic root. Cognate with Scots dreme (“dream”), North Frisian drom (“dream”), West Frisian dream (“dream”), Low German Droom, Dutch droom (“dream”), German Traum (“dream”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål drøm, Norwegian Nynorsk draum, Swedish dröm (“dream”), Icelandic draumur (“dream”). Related also to Old Norse draugr (“ghost, undead, spectre”), Dutch bedrog (“deception, deceit”), German Trug (“deception, illusion”). more details The derivation from Old English drēam is controversial, since the word itself is only attested in writing in its meaning of “joy, mirth, musical sound”. Possibly there was a separate word drēam meaning “images seen while sleeping”, which was avoided in literature due to potential confusion with the “joy” sense. Otherwise, the modern sense must have been borrowed from another Germanic language, most probably Old Norse. Since this is the common sense in all Germanic languages outside the British isles, a spontaneous development from “joy, mirth” to “dream” in Middle English is hardly conceivable. In Old Saxon, the cognate drōm did mean “dream”, but was a rare word. Attested words for “sleeping vision” in Old English were mǣting (Middle English mæte, mete), from an unclear source, and swefn (Modern English sweven), from Proto-Germanic *swefnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *swepno-, *swep-; compare Ancient Greek ὕπνος (húpnos, “sleep”). The verb is from Middle English dremen, possibly (see above) from Old English drīeman (“to make a joyous sound with voice or with instrument; rejoice; sing a song; play on an instrument”), from Proto-Germanic *draumijaną, *draugmijaną (“to be festive, dream, hallucinate”), from the noun. Cognate with Scots dreme (“to dream”), West Frisian dreame (“to dream”), Dutch dromen (“to dream”), German träumen (“to dream”), Swedish drömma (“to dream, muse”), Icelandic dreyma (“to dream”).

noun

1. Imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping.
   have a dream
   scary dream
   vivid dream
   erotic dream
   feel like a dream
   be in a dream
   And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had 1982, “Mad World”, in Roland Orzabal (lyrics), The Hurting, performed by Tears for Fears
2. (figurative) A hope or wish.
   have a dream
   fulfil a dream
   harbour a dream
   realize a dream
   I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today! August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, I have a Dream
   Ralph Wiggum is generally employed as a bottomless fount of glorious non sequiturs, but in “I Love Lisa” he stands in for every oblivious chump who ever deluded himself into thinking that with persistence, determination, and a pure heart he can win the girl of his dreams. August 5, 2012, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993)”, in AV Club
3. A visionary scheme; a wild conceit; an idle fancy.
   a dream of bliss
   the dream of his youth
   live in a dream
   wake up from a dream
   impossible dream
   There sober thought pursued the amusing theme, Till Fancy coloured it and formed a dream. c. 1735, Alexander Pope, John Donne's Satires Versified
   It is not, then, a mere dream, but a very real aim which they propose. 1870, John Shairp, Culture and Religion

verb

1. (intransitive) To see imaginary events in one's mind while sleeping.
   Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry, "Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry." 1859, Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia, page 1
2. (intransitive) To hope, to wish.
3. (intransitive) To daydream.
   Stop dreaming and get back to work.
4. (transitive) To envision as an imaginary experience (usually when asleep).
   I dreamed a vivid dream last night.
5. (intransitive) To consider the possibility (of).
   I wouldn't dream of snubbing you in public.

adj

1. Ideal; perfect.
   If a girl who talked like that was not his dream girl, he didn't know a dream girl when he heard one. 2014, P.G. Wodehouse, Jeeves and the Yule-Tide Spirit and Other Stories, Random House, page 158
   England found chances a rarity, although Liverpool striker Solanke almost made it a dream debut in the closing seconds, only to miscontrol at the far post. 14 November 2017, Phil McNulty, “England 0-0 Brazil”, in BBC News