nod off

present singular third person nods off · participle present nodding off · participle past nodded off · past nodded off

1. idiomaticintransitiveTo fall asleep, especially unintentionally.

   All patients struggle against daytime drowsiness and nod off at inopportune moments.

   2008 February 15, Ingfei Chen, “A Leap Forward, but Hurdles Remain in Narcolepsy”, in New York Times, retrieved 16 Jul 2008

   2 more examples

   The old lady nodded off to sleep many times during the narration, only waking up when George paused, saying it was most interesting.

   1857–1859, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, chapter 53, in The Virginians. A Tale of the Last Century, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1858–1859, →OCLC

   I dragged him to the house, / And gave him tea and tried to make him smoke. / I tried to make him talk about his travels. / Nothing would do: he just kept nodding off.

   c. 1905–1906 (date written), Robert Frost, “The Death of the Hired Man”, in The Poems of Robert Frost: […], New York, N.Y.: The Modern Library, published 1946, →OCLC, page 38

   Synonyms: crash out, doze off, drift off, drop off, fall asleep, get off, go night-night, go to sleep