nod off

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nod off (third-person singular simple present nods off, present participle nodding off, simple past and past participle nodded off)

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To fall asleep, especially unintentionally.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fall asleep

   • 1857–1859, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, chapter 53, in The Virginians. A Tale of the Last Century, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1858–1859, →OCLC:

     The old lady nodded off to sleep many times during the narration, only waking up when George paused, saying it was most interesting.

   • c. 1905–1906 (date written), Robert Frost, “The Death of the Hired Man”, in The Poems of Robert Frost: […], New York, N.Y.: The Modern Library, published 1946, →OCLC, page 38:

     I dragged him to the house, / And gave him tea and tried to make him smoke. / I tried to make him talk about his travels. / Nothing would do: he just kept nodding off.

   • 2008 February 15, Ingfei Chen, “A Leap Forward, but Hurdles Remain in Narcolepsy”, in New York Times‎, retrieved 16 July 2008:

     All patients struggle against daytime drowsiness and nod off at inopportune moments.

• land of Nod