SuaviloquyToday’s word

slumber

Slumber, n.

Sleep; especially, light sleep; sleep that is not deep or sound; repose. He at last fell into a slumber, and thence into a fast sleep, which detained him in that place until it was almost night. Bunyan. Fast asleep It is no matter; Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber. Shak. Rest to my soul, and slumber to my eyes. Dryden.

2 other Webster entries under this spelling

Slumber, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Slumbered; p. pr. & vb. n. Slumbering.]

1. To sleep; especially, to sleep lightly; to doze. Piers Plowman. He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Ps. cxxi. 4.

2. To be in a state of negligence, sloth, supineness, or inactivity. "Why slumbers Pope" Young.

Slumber, v. t.

1. To lay to sleep. [R.] Wotton.

2. To stun; to stupefy. [Obs.] Spenser.

Shades of meaning

Fernald has no entry of its own for slumber; he lists it under rest.

Where he writes about it:

Sleep is the perfection of repose, the most complete rest; slumber is a light and ordinarily pleasant form of sleep. — from rest