h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

………
Many moons ago, I jotted down all the ways I could think of to portray the act of sleep. Don’t ask me; I don’t remember why. Perhaps all the poetry and writing I’d been doing at the time was active, kinetic, vibrant, and full of descriptions of motion. Maybe I wanted to explore the opposite end of the spectrum. Could be it was just a silly whim. Yeah, that’s it. A whim.

Then I enlisted the aid of the regulars at Lil’s Atelier to help me add phrases I’d never heard before. They’ve added some interesting items to the list.
Here’s what I wrote down:

drifting off to sleep
calm repose
closing of the eyes
settling down to rest nestling under the covers
dozing fitfully
dead to the world
counting sheep
between waking and dreaming
tossing and turning restlessly
tangled in the sheets
curled up in a ball
murmuring in your sleep
soft susurration of breath
mouth agape in a yawn
eyes fluttering to close
rousing with a start
tuckered out
sprawled out
supine
tucked in
reclining
snoring soundly
out like a light
fast asleep
serene
at peace
exhausted
contented sigh
relaxed
unlax and rewind [blame Bugs for that one]
quiet
drooping eyelids
heavy-laden lids
dream-induced twitch
dead asleep
un petit mort
schlaffen

I keyed on three separate aspects of our dreamtime state: moving from wakefulness into sleep, the state of sleep itself, and rousing from sleep into lucid activity. Much to my surprise, I filled an entire page of my little notepad with various renditions and colloquial phrases that describe each of the stages of our sleep cycle. What I’d like is a list of words and phrases for ‘sleep’ from your neck of the woods, from your culture, from your perspective. I’ve started with the ones below; the ‘rest’ is up to you.

B4iturnin4thenight&get40winks

Here’s the help I got:

Posted by Peripatetic Warrior Monk
B4 - Zeds, gonking, scratcher time, being snaffled by the big green maggot (ie in sleeping bag!), gettting your fat head down, in need of a mattressectomy, communing with Mr Pillow, scouser PT, sparko!

Posted by Rosemary {[(2+2+2)^2]+4+2=42} Out of Limbo
B4, another one is 'in the arms of Morpheus'. I've also come across 'worshipping St Mattress' for Sunday morning lie-ins. Have you got 'in the Land of Nod' on your list?

B4youaddyourownpeculiardialectic2themix

And to think that when I aim for a pillow, all I want to do is lose consciousness. You HAVE given it a lot of thought.

"aim for a pillow"
"lose consciousness"
Two additions from Rev Nick. Thank you!

B4thenextpostbringsinmorecolloquialisms