twenty winks
A very short sleep, half as long as forty winks.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“I am tired and need twenty winks.”
“The long drive made me sleepy, so I pulled over to take twenty winks before continuing.”
“Exhausted from the long journey, the traveler found a quiet corner in the station to steal twenty winks before the final train arrived.”
disputed origin
Modeled after forty winks, from the humorous notion that if a short nap is forty winks then a very short nap is twenty winks (half that amount).
- 01
forty winks
A short sleep, an extra sleep, a nap.
- 02
in the wink of an eye
instantaneously, extremely quickly
- 03
nudge nudge wink wink
A phrase used to hint that the speaker is euphemistically referring to something else.
- 04
sleep a wink
To sleep at all.
- 05
tip the wink
To give (somebody) a hint or suggestion, as if by a wink; to ask or tell surreptitiously.
- 06
twenty to the dozen
very fast, fluently
- 07
wink at
To turn a blind eye to (something); to corruptly ignore (some wrongdoing); to pretend not to have seen (something); to signal one's approval of (illicit activities) while maintaining the ability to plausibly deny knowing about it; to tolerate or tacitly encourage (inappropriate, immoral or illegal behavior).
Last updated August 10, 2026