English edit

Etymology edit

From Morpheus +‎ -an.

Pronunciation edit

  • (UK) IPA(key): /mɔːˈfiːən/, /ˈmɔːfi.ən/

Adjective edit

Morphean (comparative more Morphean, superlative most Morphean)

  1. (literary) Pertaining to Morpheus; sleepy, soporific, oneiric. [from 17th c.]
    • 1819, John Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: [] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, [], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza XXIX, page 97:
      Then by the bed-side, where the faded moon / Made a dim, silver twilight, soft he set / A table, and, half anguish'd, threw thereon / A cloth of woven crimson, gold and jet:— / O for some drowsy Morphean amulet!
    • 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Oxford, published 2010, page 8:
      The laird did not awake in any reasonable time; for, he being overcome with fatigue and wassail, his sleep became sounder, and his Morphean measures more intense.

Anagrams edit