# to sleep (heavily) like a ...



## ThomasK

Could you tell me what metaphor (comparison...) you use when referring to deep sleep?

Dutch: "slapen *als een roos*" (like a rose), "slapen *als een blok*" (like a log). A little strange to have both, I think, but I suppose one refers to the fact that dream can lead people to a dreamworld, full of roses, etc., whereas the other hints at the immobility (like "dead weight") caused by sleep.

So how about your language? Thanks in advance!


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## Stoggler

“Sleep like a log” in English too, and “sleep like a baby”.


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## bibax

Czech:

spáti* jako nemluvně* = to sleep like a nursling; _(noun *nemluvně* < nemluviti = not to speak)_

spáti* jako dudek* = to sleep like a hoopoe _(Upupa epops)_;

spáti* jako zabitý* = to sleep like a killed [man];

spáti* jako špalek* = to sleep like a log;

spáti* spánkem spravedlivých* = to sleep with a sleep of the fair-minded (righteous);


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## Ífaradà

Norwegian:

Å sove som en stein - to sleep like a stone.


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## ThomasK

I recognize the same trends: hard and soft, I'd say. And you're adding "the sleep of the righteous" (van de rechtvaardigen), which I had forgotten indeed! Thanks!


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## AndrasBP

In Hungarian we say: *alszik, mint a bunda* - to sleep like a fur coat!


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## Dymn

Yes, this opposition is also found in Catalan. I quote the dictionary itself:



> *1 *_9 _ [LC] dormir com un sant [o dormir com un àngel, o dormir com un innocent] Dormir amb tranquil·litat, sense torbacions.
> *1 *_10 _ [LC] dormir com un soc [o dormir com un tronc] Dormir profundament. Ja pots encendre el llum, dorm com un soc.
> 
> Translation:
> _sleep like a saint [or like an angel, like an innocent] _Sleep calmly, without worries.
> _sleep like a stump [or like a log] _Sleep deeply.



Another option: _dormir com un liró _"sleep like a dormouse"

Without "like a": _dormir pla _"sleep deeply, after an exhausting day"


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## velisarius

In Greek:
_
Κοιμήθηκα σαν αρνάκι_. I slept like a lamb.
My husband says -_ Κοιμήθηκα σαν σφαγμένο αρνί. (I slept like a slaughtered sheep.)_


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## AndrasBP

bibax said:


> spáti* jako zabitý* = to sleep like a killed [man]


The same in Russian:
Спать _как убитый _(spat' kak ubityj)


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## Kotlas

ThomasK said:


> "the sleep of the righteous"


We have that, too:
спать сном праведника [spat' snom 'pravednika]

I would use this phrase for someone who is sleeping very peacefully.

And I would use the phrase from post № 9 (спать _как убитый _- sleep like a slain man) for someone who is sleeping very soundly, maybe due to great fatigue.

There are some more phrases in Russian:
спит как сурок - he/she sleeps like a marmot/groundhog
[spit kak su'rok] 
We use it for someone who likes to sleep and/or sleeps long hours.

спит как младенец - sleeps like a baby
[spit kak mla'denets]


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## ilocas2

Croatian:

_spavati kao zaklan_ - sleep like butchered
_spavati kao top_ - sleep like canon
_spavati snom pravednika_ - 





Kotlas said:


> We have that, too:
> спать сном праведника [spat' snom 'pravednika]



source - Hrvatski jezični portal


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## bazq

Modern Hebrew has the English "like a log" (ישנתי כמו בול עץ = I slept like a log (of) wood), but the most natural way to convey this kind of idea would be to simply use a cognate object:

ישנתי שינה עמוקה = I slept a deep sleep.

"Sleeping like a baby" was also loaned, but I don't feel it has the same meaning as "like a log". It's more about the ease of falling asleep, and the quality of that "session" of sleeping (feeling refreshed upon awakening). It doesn't necessarily mean you slept deeply, as in it would have been hard to wake you up.


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## ThomasK

I think indeed that the metaphors "hover around" two meanings: sleeping deeply and somehow softly. How one can sleep like a canon, I don't know, though... ;-) Or perhaps the ethical aspect is common as well, though not as common as the other two: sleeping without remorse, as in like  a saint (Catalan), or or the righteous...


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## ilocas2

ThomasK said:


> How one can sleep like a canon, I don't know, though... ;-)



It should have been cannon.


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## apmoy70

velisarius said:


> In Greek:
> _
> Κοιμήθηκα σαν αρνάκι_. I slept like a lamb.
> My husband says -_ Κοιμήθηκα σαν σφαγμένο αρνί. (I slept like a slaughtered sheep.)_


Also, *«κοιμήθηκα σαν κούτσουρο»* [ciˈmiθika saŋ͜ ˈguʦ͡uɾo] --> _I slept like (a) log_

*«Κούτσουρο»* [ˈkuʦ͡uɾo] (neut.) --> _log, stump wood, a part of the trunk or a large branch of a tree that has been cut off_ < Byz. Gr. neut. *«κόψουρον» kóp͡souron* (idem) < combinatory *«κοψ-» kop͡s-* of Classical v. *«κόπτω» kóptō* --> _to strike, smite, hew, hammer, disable, tire out_ (PIE *kop- to strike cf Proto-Slavic *kopati, _to dig_) + Classical fem. *«οὐρά» ourā́* --> _rump, arse, tail, (metaph.) rear/rear guard, (euphem.) penis_ (PIE *h₁ers-/*h₁ors- _bottom, arse, tail_ cf Hitt. arra- _arse_, Proto-Germanic *arsaz > Ger. Arsch, Eng. arse, ass, Dt. aars).


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## ThomasK

Do cannons sleep better than bishops or priests??? ;-) Or better than lay people?

Just by  the way: we sometimes compare the noise of someone sleeping like a log with sawing (a tree)...


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## velisarius

Silly question: Can lay people only sleep lying down?


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## ilocas2

I'm afraid that it's another misunderstandig. Sometimes this forum is hard...

top - Wiktionary
cannon - Wiktionary
canon - Wiktionary


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## Kotlas

There is another English phrase for people who sleep soundly:
*to sleep like a top**

***A top is a child's toy, which spins when twisted quickly. 'Sleep like a top' suggests a very sound, peaceful and deep sleep.

The Internet's various forums are full of explanations, yet, basically, there are two points of view regarding the saying's origin:

First: "When a top is spinning well, the precessional effect causes its axis to remain stationary, and it can appear to be still, that is, 'sleeping'."

Second:
"The saying is derived from the Italian: the Italian word _topo_ signifies _a mouse_; it is the generic name, and applied indiscriminately to the common mouse, the field mouse, or the dormouse, hence the Italian proverb –  _dormire come un topo_, or in English – to sleep like a top! So the English phrase derives from the Italian expression _dormire come un topo,_ with _topo_ being wrongly translated as _top_ rather than _mouse_.

[However, the Italian phrase turns out to be _dormire come un ghiro_ - to sleep like a dormouse. The animal here is _ghiro_, not _topo_ (a dormouse, not a mouse). So maybe the Italian _ghiro _was wrongly translated as _gyro(scope)_, and then "transformed" into a spinning top?]

In Croatian, there is the phrase "spava kao top", "he sleeps like a _top****_", _top*** *_meaning "cannon" (a mounted gun for firing heavy projectiles). Of course, there is not really a context in which cannons (guns on wheels) can be said to be sleeping deeply. So it is hard to believe it is also a  mistranslation from Italian. Two such mistranslations in three unrelated languages (Slavic, Germanic, and Romanic) seem to be impossible."


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## ilocas2

There is an explanation how it originated. Originally the expression was longer and it was something like _he is sleeping so deeply that not even a shot from a cannon would wake him_. With the passing of time it was shortened. There is also 'deaf like cannon' which again was longer like he is deaf like if he just heard a shot from a cannon, and it was also shortened.


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## AndrasBP

ilocas2 said:


> Originally the expression was longer and it was something like _he is sleeping so deeply that not even a shot from a cannon would wake him_.


I can confirm that the phrase also exists and is used in Hungarian in the same form.
*"Akár ágyút is elsüthetnek a füle mellett." =
Even a cannon may be fired next to his ears.*


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## Kotlas

AndrasBP said:


> Even a cannon may be fired next to his ears.


We have similar expressions:
хоть из пушки {над ухом} стреляй - you might as well fire a cannon {above his ear - _this bit is often omitted_} (you still won't wake him up). [stre'lyay khot' is 'pushki {nad 'ukham}]

пушкой не разбудишь - lit. you won't wake (him) up with a cannon
['pushkay ne raz'budish']

I had not mentioned them before since they use a different pattern than that of the OP.
These expressions are very old but still popular, and they have not changed over the years.


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## merquiades

_Dormir comme une souche -  Sleep like a log
Dormir comme un bébé - Sleep like a baby
Dormir comme une marmotte_ -  lit. "sleep like a groundhog"

_Sleep like a rock _in English too


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