Inspired by the question How long is a 'wink'?, I did some work on the origin of the phrase forty winks. Though the OP at the wink question mentions the phrase, it does not ask about its origin. So I thought I'd ask the question here and post what I've found. I was able to find an antedating not mentioned by any of the usual phrase-dictionary suspects. The most accurate information I found elsewhere was from a post by Ken G in a discussion of the phrase at Wordwizard. Any other insights welcome.
Answer
William Kitchiner M.D. (1775–1827) was
an optician, inventor of telescopes,
amateur musician and exceptional cook.
His name was a household word during
the 19th century, and his Cook’s
Oracle was a bestseller in England
and America.
The phrase forty winks, meaning a short nap, can be traced back to Dr. Kitchiner's 1821 self-help guide, The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life. The phrase is mentioned in a November 1821 issue of the British Literary Chronicle, in a review of Kitchiner's book:
Sleep is a subject on which our author
acknowledges his feelings are
tremblingly alive; he is fond of a
'forty-winks' nap in an horizontal
posture,' as the best preparative for
any extraordinary exertion, either of
body or mind.
Here is a clip from an 1822 copy of Kitchiner's book:
The use of quotes around a forty winks nap seems to indicate Kitchiner might have borrowed the phrase from elsewhere, but I can't find it in any form earlier than his use of it. Also, Kitchiner carefully footnotes other phrases and passages from different authors throughout his book.
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