Car that loooks pretty ordinary on the outside but had hidden bells and whistles; eg, souped-up engine
A quick Googling suggests that the term is coming to have a broader meaning, that is, anything ordinary on the outside but extraordinary inside; though this usage hasn't yet found its way into the usu dictionaries
Any further input on this more generalized meaning appreciated--Thanks guys
I think it's been used in sports for quite a while, in that same general usage; someone (or a team) that has some surprises "under the hood".
a similar, though not the same, phrase would be "sand-bagging".
eta: Thank you kindly. Perhaps I'm stretching the idea of a neologism
a sleeper is a spy, that live a long time in another country, waiting..(sleeping) until it is called to act (time of war) then the spy shows its true colors..
same idea with a car.. looks ordinary, but at crunch time, it shows that its no ordinary car.
(the spy/sleeper is old. (what, 1970's or? so entered common language in spy thrillers)
Thanks guys, but I'm familiar with all the usu definitions. The thrust of my thread was whether the more generalized usage, which has not yet found its way into the usu dictionaries, has caught on; or whether it should even be considered as a unique extension of those defs
Sleeper? You mean the kind of car that looks like
this on the outside and has
this under the hood?
Hi Dale. I wonder what you consider a "usu dictionar[y]." I've done a brief check and, so far, AHD, MWO, Encarta, COED, Cambridge International and dictionary.com all give the generic meaning, something along the lines of "something that achieves sudden, unexpected success." Perhaps it's the lack of your proffered definition, "anything ordinary on the outside but extraordinary inside" which is more like a definition for "ringer" than for "sleeper."
I thought sleepers were a type of pill.
or a Woody Allen movie...
Fal: It is the more general def that I don't find. The usage to which I allude may not even be considered a separate meaning but an impromptu extension
But thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think "ringer" quite makes the grade
there are 44 listings at OneLook for sleeper, even the quick definitions (which come from the public domain) are quite wide and various. also see Business, Slang, Sports & Tech.
Quote:
or a Woody Allen movie...
In my small hometown the video store had a copy of Woody Allen's "Sleeper" but they had it in the Horror section. I was about to point out this error to them but then I thought maybe the idea of watching a Woody Allen film was horrifying to them, so I let it go.
Quote:
Fal: It is the more general def that I don't find. The usage to which I allude may not even be considered a separate meaning but an impromptu extension
But thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think "ringer" quite makes the grade
That's what I'm saying. The definition "something that achieves sudden, unexpected success" is the common one and is in every dictionary that I've looked it up in so far. The definition "anything ordinary on the outside but extraordinary inside" seems to be a specific usage of the definition of "ringer," "someone or something that has greater abilities than initally shown." The two terms seem to me to be potentially somewhat overlapping but I would use sleeper to refer to someone who had abilities that weren't evident because the sleeper didn't quite have it together and reserve ringer for one intentionally hiding the abilities.
i always understood a "sleeper" to be a person whose talents were hidden or unshown ... and then coming forward to be shown at a later date. the first time i heard it, i was playing a game of eight-ball and was a novice. when i cleaned the table in one turn, i was called a sleeper (and no, it was a fluke, never managed to do it again ) lol.
a "sleeper" is also a term for a small round gold earring for pierced ears ... generally worn when ears are first pierced to keep the holes from closing ... (sleep with them in ) ...
this was an interesting question as there are more definitions than one realizes at first thought ...
mcshell
welcome mcshell!
I agree with your usage of sleeper.
as for ringer, I would use that as in someone who is brought in to bolster a weak group. someone whose skills are well known.
Welcome Mcshell
For ringer I would add that it is often someone not entitled to be on the team. e.g. a company softball team who bring in the new secretary who can't type but who just happens to play on the women's national championship team.
> a company softball team who bring in the new secretary who can't type but who just happens to play on the women's national championship team.
like I said...
This was fairly common in '30s semi-pro baseball. Satchell Paige pitched for the otherwise all-white Bismarck (N.Dak.) town team in 1937 during the Denver Post post-season tournament and brought along a bunch of other black stars in 1938.
Thre are some other ties to sleepers, but I won't rail about them here.
ted: Just wanted you to know somebody appreciates the double pun