Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A fantastic notion or vain hope.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun idiomatic A
plan ,desire , oridea that will not likely work; a nearimpossibility .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a fantastic but vain hope (from fantasies induced by the opium pipe)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[From the fantasies induced by smoking a pipe of opium.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From the fantasies experienced when smoking an opium pipe.
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Examples
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quotato commented on the word pipe dream
The only pipe dream that ever worked is when a plumber got a job.
December 3, 2008