Nightmare


[nahyt-mair] /ˈnaɪtˌmɛər/

noun
1.
a terrifying dream in which the dreamer experiences feelings of helplessness, extreme anxiety, sorrow, etc.
2.
a condition, thought, or experience suggestive of a nightmare:
the nightmare of his years in prison.
3.
(formerly) a monster or evil spirit believed to oppress persons during sleep.
/ˈnaɪtˌmɛə/
noun
1.
a terrifying or deeply distressing dream
2.

3.
a thing that is feared
4.
(formerly) an evil spirit supposed to harass or suffocate sleeping people
n.

late 13c., “an evil female spirit afflicting sleepers with a feeling of suffocation,” compounded from night + mare (3) “goblin that causes nightmares, incubus.” Meaning shifted mid-16c. from the incubus to the suffocating sensation it causes. Sense of “any bad dream” first recorded 1829; that of “very distressing experience” is from 1831. Cognate with Middle Dutch nachtmare, German Nachtmahr.

nightmare night·mare (nīt’mâr’)
n.

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