sleeper

sleeper

1. a railway sleeping car or compartment

2. Brit one of the blocks supporting the rails on a railway track

3. a wrestling hold in which a wrestler presses the sides of his opponent's neck, causing him to pass out

4. any gobioid fish of the family Eleotridae, of brackish or fresh tropical waters, resembling the gobies but lacking a ventral sucker

5. a spy planted in advance for future use, but not currently active

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sleeper [′slēp·ər]

(civil engineering)

A timber, steel, or precast concrete beam placed under rails to hold them at the correct gage.

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sleeper

1. One of a number of horizontal timbers that are laid on a concrete slab (or on the ground) and to which the flooring is nailed.

2. Any long horizontal beam, at or near the ground, which distributes the load from posts or framing.