Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Not awake; asleep.
  • adjective Present but not active or manifest though capable of becoming so: synonym: inactive.
  • adjective Temporarily inactive.
  • adjective Being in a condition of biological rest or inactivity characterized by cessation of growth or development and the suspension of many metabolic processes.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In botany, not active or growing.
  • Sleeping; asleep.
  • In heraldry, lying down with its head on its fore paws, as if asleep: said of a beast used as a bearing.
  • Hibernating: said of certain animals.
  • In a state of rest or inactivity; quiescent; not in action, movement, force, or operation; being or kept in abeyance: as, a dormant rebellion; a dormant title; dormant privileges.
  • noun A beam; a sleeper: formerly also dormond, dormant-tree. Also dormer. Halliwell.
  • noun A dish which remains from the beginning to the end of a repast, such as cold pies, hams, and potted meats, placed down the middle of the table at a large entertainment; a centerpiece which is not removed.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Arch.) A large beam in the roof of a house upon which portions of the other timbers rest or “ sleep.”

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Inactive, asleep, suspended.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective lying with head on paws as if sleeping
  • adjective in a condition of biological rest or suspended animation
  • adjective (of e.g. volcanos) not erupting and not extinct
  • adjective inactive but capable of becoming active

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from present participle of dormir, to sleep, from Latin dormīre.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin dormiēns, present participle of dormiō ("I sleep").

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