different between steeper vs sleeper

English

Etymology

steep +? -er

Adjective

steeper

1. comparative form of steep: more steep

Noun

steeper (plural steepers)

1. A vessel, vat, or cistern in which things are steeped.

Anagrams

• Petrees, peerest, resteep

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -i?p?(r)

Etymology 1

sleep +? -er

Noun

sleeper (plural sleepers)

1. Someone who sleeps.

2. That which lies dormant, as a law.
   • 1612, Francis Bacon, Of Judicature

     Therefore let penal laws, if they have been sleepers of long, or if they be grown unfit for the present time, be by wise judged confined in the execution […]

   • 1958, Duncan Leroy Kennedy, Bill drafting (page 12)

     The object of these provisions is to prevent insertion of "jokers" or "sleepers" in bills and securing passage under the false color of the title.

3. A spy, saboteur, or terrorist who lives unobtrusively in a community until activated by a prearranged signal; may be part of a sleeper cell.
   • 1969, United States Congress, Departments of Treasury and Post Office and Executive Office Appropriations for 1970: Hearings (91st Congress, First Session, parts 2-3, page 479)

     We are up against the pros; and pros who have been involved in this kind of activity for many years. […] The public apathy today is disturbing — few realize, Mr. Chairman, that there are sleepers in this country and we know that they are able to manipulate at will behind the scenes.

4. A small starter earring, worn to prevent a piercing from closing.
5. A railway sleeping car.

6. (martial arts, wrestling) A sleeper hold.
7. Something that achieves unexpected success after an interval of time.

   Synonym: sleeper hit

   • 1968, Marvin B. Scott, The Racing Game (page 160)

     For example, the [racehorse] trainer may have tipped a betting syndicate that he is about to unleash a sleeper […]

8. A goby-like bottom-feeding freshwater fish of the family Odontobutidae.
9. A nurse shark (family Ginglymostomatidae).
10. A type of pajama for a person, especially a child, that covers the whole body, including the feet.

11. (slang) An automobile which has been internally modified to excess, while retaining a mostly stock appearance in order to fool opponents in a drag race, or to avoid the attention of the police.

    Antonyms: cop magnet, rice burner, racecar

12. (slang) A sedative.
13. (slang, gambling) A bet placed on the gambling table and then forgotten about by the gambler.

Synonyms

• (goby-like fish): sleeper goby

Coordinate terms

• (clothing): sleepsack

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

sleeper (third-person singular simple present sleepers, present participle sleepering, simple past and past participle sleepered)

1. (rare) To mark a calf by cutting its ear.
   • 1963, Jack Schaefer: Monte Walsh, p 81:

     I expect there ain't a trick to maverickin' and sleeperin' and changin' a brand he don't know.

Translations

Etymology 2

Compare Norwegian sleip (“a sleeper (a timber); as adjective, slippery, smooth”). See slape.

Noun

sleeper (plural sleepers)

1. (rail transport, Britain) A railroad tie.

   Synonym: (US) tie

2. (carpentry) A structural beam in a floor running perpendicular to both the joists beneath and floorboards above.
3. (nautical) A heavy floor timber in a ship's bottom.
4. (nautical) The lowest, or bottom, tier of casks.

Translations

References

• Sleeper in the 1920 edition of Encyclopedia Americana.
• railway sleeper on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Leepers, Peelers, peelers, repeels