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sleeping (adj.)

c. 1300, present-participle adjective from sleep (v.). Sleeping-pill is from 1660s; sleeping-bag is from 1850; sleeping sickness as a specific African tropical disease is first recorded 1875; sleeping has been used since late 14c. for diseases marked by morbid conditions. Sleeping Beauty (1729) is Perrault's La belle au bois dormant.

It is ill wakyng of a sleapyng dogge. [Heywood, 1562]

It is nought good a slepyng hound to wake. [Chaucer, c. 1385]

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Definitions of sleeping from WordNet
1
sleeping (n.)
the state of being asleep;
sleeping (n.)
quiet and inactive restfulness;
Synonyms: quiescence / quiescency / dormancy
sleeping (n.)
the suspension of consciousness and decrease in metabolic rate;
2
sleeping (adj.)
lying with head on paws as if sleeping;
Synonyms: dormant
From wordnet.princeton.edu