Etymology

beauty sleep

beau·ty sleep

Today it means: Originally, sleep taken before midnight, on the belief that early sleep hours conduce to beauty and health; now (chiefly humorous), sleep at any time needed by one to stay beautiful; (countable) an instance of such sleep. Full definition →

First used early 19th c.
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The story

From beauty (noun) + sleep (noun).

First known use, by meaning

  • from early 19th c. Originally, sleep taken before midnight, on the belief that early sleep hours conduce to beauty and health; now (chiefly humorous), sleep at any time needed by one to stay beautiful; (countable) an instance of such sleep.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.