#writing106

MACBETH: “Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams that shake us nightly. Better be with the dead, whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, than on the torture of the mind to lie in restless ecstasy.” -Act 3, Scene 2, Line 20-25

In Shakespeare’s, Macbeth, he addresses “nightmares” as terrible dreams that shake them nightly. Although he doesn’t directly use the word nightmare, in recent translated versions we see that what he is saying means “nightmare”.

The word nightmare used in a book.

AUTHOR: Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)

Anna Karenin. Part VII Chapter XXV

“‘You wouldn’t believe how distasteful these rooms have become to me,’ she said, sitting down beside him to her coffee. ‘There’s nothing more awful than these chambres garnies. There’s no individuality in them, no soul. These clocks, and curtains, and, worst of all, the wall-papers—they’re a nightmare.”

Leo Tolstoy, uses the word “nightmare” as a derogatory word for something that isn’t good and is unappealing / unpleasing.

In this Progressive Insurance commercial, the word “nightmare” is being used to describe a bad dream while sleeping.

Thesaurus 

nightmare: (noun) bad dream or experience

Synonyms for the word nightmare:

dream

fantasy

hallucination

horror

ordeal

vision

illusion

incubus

phantasm

succubus

torment

trial

tribulation

Online Etymology Dictionary

The word “nightmare” (n.) comes from the late 13th century, originally meaning, “an evil female spirit afflicting sleepers with a feeling of suffocation,” compounded from the words night + mare “goblin that causes nightmares, incubus”.

The meaning of the word shifted during the middle of the 16th century from the incubus to the feeling of suffocation it creates. 

In the late 1820′s early 1830′s the word was first recorded to mean “any bad dream” and “very distressing experience”. 

Associated with the Dutch word, “nachtmare” and German word, “nachtmahr”. 

Urban Dictionary

TOP DEFINITION

A figment of your imagination. Similar to dreams, but explains something terrible.

“Oh no, I had a nightmare that I would fail my math test!”

NOUN

1. A frightening or unpleasant dream: 

‘I had nightmares after watching that horror movie.’

2. A very unpleasant or frightening experience or prospect:

‘The nightmare of racial hatred.’

‘Developing thunderclouds are a balloonist’s worst nightmare.’

3. A person or situation that is very difficult to deal with:

‘Buying wine can be a nightmare if you don’t know enough about it.’