DCHP-1 Online
sleeper 
1 n. Lumbering, Obs. See bedding timbers 1853 quote.
See also: bedding timbers
- 1863 Sam explained the structure when the waggon had done bumping over it: trunks of trees had been laid along the road as "sleepers" in three continuous lines. . . .
2 n. Maritimes a large root or other piece of wood partially buried in the soil.
- 1954 The thing Grant had noticed from the first was that if the plough-point caught in a boulder, Stewart would go at the rock with his hands. If a sleeper needed shifting he would strain at the heavy timber without waiting for help.
3 n. Cdn Football a play in which a player moves to the sidelines as if moving off the field during a group substitution, then moves ahead on a quick play to receive a pass unchallenged by a defending player.
See also: sleeper pass
- 1966 But it took an imaginative play . . . to sound the knell of the sleeper.
- 1863 Sam explained the structure when the waggon had done bumping over it: trunks of trees had been laid along the road as "sleepers" in three continuous lines. . . .