subs. phr. (colloquial).—A short sleep or nap. See DOG’S SLEEP.
1866. G. ELIOT, Felix Holt, ch. xliii. She was prevented by the appearance of old Mr. Transome, who since his walk had been having ‘FORTY-WINKS’ on the sofa in the library.
1871. P. EGAN, Finish to Tom and Jerry, p. 87. On uncommanly big gentlemen, told out, taking FORTY-WINKS.
[Forty is often used to signify an indefinite number; cf., Shakespeare’s usage, ‘I could beat forty of them (Coriolanus, iii. 1); ‘O that the slave had forty thousand lives’ (Othello, iii. 1); ‘forty thousand brothers’ (Hamlet, v. 1); ‘The Humour of Forty Fancies’ (Taming of the Shrew); and Jonson ‘Some forty boxes’ (Epicœne, or the Silent Woman).]
