Word.ws English Dictionary

sleeps with one eye open

sleeps with one eye open is the third-person singular simple present indicative of sleep with one eye open.

Meaning of sleep with one eye open

Verb

sleep with one eye open (third-person singular simple present sleeps with one eye open, present participle sleeping with one eye open, simple past and past participle slept with one eye open)

  1. (figuratively) To remain vigilant at all times, especially by remaining partially awake or sleeping only lightly so as to avoid being caught off guard.
    • Sleep with one eye open
      You have no idea what I'm capable of
      Keep claiming holier than thou
      My knife can stab more holes than you can count
      How dare you sleep where a king once slept
      And dry the tears of where his queen has wept2019, “Brimstone”, in Phil Bozeman (lyrics), The Valley (Deathcore), performed by Whitechapel

Questions about sleeps with one eye open

What is sleeps with one eye open the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Sleeps with one eye open is the third-person singular simple present indicative of sleep with one eye open.

Words near sleeps with one eye open in the dictionary

  1. sleeps out
  2. sleeps over
  3. sleeps rough
  4. sleeps together
  5. sleeps with
  6. sleeps with one eye open
  7. sleeps with one's fathers
  8. sleeps with the fishes
  9. sleepsack
  10. sleepsacks
  11. sleepshirt

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sleeps with one eye open (page history and authors); sleep with one eye open (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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