sleepy

Etymology

From Middle English slepy, from Old English *slǣpiġ (attested in unslǣpiġ (“not sleepy, sleepless”)), from Proto-West Germanic *slāpag (“sleepy”), equivalent to sleep + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian släipich (“sleepy”), West Frisian sliepich (“sleepy”), Middle Dutch slapig, slêpig, slapich (“sleepy”), Middle Low German slâpich, Middle High German slāfec (> archaic German schlafig (“sleepy”)).

adj

1. Tired; feeling the need for sleep.
2. Suggesting tiredness.
   At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. Disgusted with himself at such cowardice, he spat a needle from his mouth, stepped back from the tree and listened. There were no sounds of any movement upstairs: no shouts, no sleepy grumbles, only a gentle tinkle from the decorations as the tree had recovered from the collision. 1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus
3. Tending to induce sleep.
   a sleepy drink or potion
4. (figurative) Dull; lazy.
5. (figurative) Quiet; without bustle or activity.
   a sleepy English village
   Experts believe a pandemic welfare programme for poorer Brazilians has encouraged robbers to plan bold raids in sleepy regional cities where bank branches are storing more cash. 2021-08-30, “Armed robbers take hostages in deadly bank raids in Brazil city”, in The Guardian
   Usually sleepy border crossings into Kazakhstan and Mongolia have also been overwhelmed by the sudden influx of Russians looking for a way out. 2022-09-23, Pjotr Sauer, Dan Sabbagh, “Border queues build as people flee Russia to escape Putin’s call-up”, in The Guardian
   Despite Horwich's international fame as a centre of railway engineering, Horwich station itself was usually quite a sleepy place. March 8 2023, Paul Salveson, “Fond farewells to two final trains...”, in RAIL, number 978, page 54

noun

1. (informal, uncountable or in the plural) The gum that builds up in the eye; sleep, gound.
   "Did he always leave the sleepy in his eyes?" "Never removed it; let it build up in the comers of his eyes over the weeks until it was heavy enough to fall […] 1964, Ken Kesey, Sometimes a Great Notion
   But the nightdress was heavy, the sleepy in her eyes was heavy, her hair (she made a mustache of one of its locks) was heavy and smelled of cigarettes […] 1991, Martin Amis, London Fields