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A.Word.A.Day--morpheus

Morpheus (MOR-fee-uhs, -fyoos), noun

1. A son of Hypnos and the god of dreams.

2. In the arms of Morpheus: asleep.

[Middle English from Latin from Greek morphe + Latin -eus; coined by Ovid, with allusion to the forms seen in dreams.]

"Let for the people be the first to admit a certain familiarity with sleepless nights and an envy of those who claim to fall into the arms of Morpheus the moment their head touches a pillow. But sleepless or sleep-short nights are one thing; sleepless decades are something else entirely. Decades? Yes. Nguyen Thi Tu, an elderly Vietnamese lady who lives in the southern province of Ca Mau, claims that she hasn't slept a single wink since 1967." Stephen Goode, A woman who never dreams or sleeps a wink, Insight on the News, Nov 22, 1999.

This week's theme: words and phrases from classical mythology.

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