drɪ:m n. & v. --n. 1 a a
series of pictures or events in
the mind of a sleeping
person. b the
act or
time of
seeing this. c (in full waking dream) a
similar experience of
one awake. 2 a day-dream or
fantasy. 3 an
ideal,
aspiration, or
ambition,
esp. of a
nation. 4 a
beautiful or ideal person or
thing. 5 a
state of mind
without proper perception of
reality (goes
about in a dream). --v. (past
and past part. dreamt or dreamed) 1 intr. experience a dream. 2 tr.
imagine in or as if in a dream. 3 (usu.
with neg.) a intr. (foll. by of)
contemplate the
possibility of,
have any conception or
intention of (would
not dream of upsetting them). b tr. (often foll. by
that + clause)
think of as a possibility (never dreamt that he
would come). 4 tr. (foll. by away)
spend (time) unprofitably. 5 intr. be
inactive or
unpractical. 6 intr.
fall into a
reverie. ødream-time
Austral. the
alcheringa. dream up imagine,
invent. like a dream colloq.
easily, effortlessly. øødreamful adj. dreamless adj. dreamlike adj. [ME f. OE dream
joy, music]
