Hypertext Webster Gateway: "nightmare"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Nightmare \Night"mare`\, n. [Night + mare incubus. See {Mare}
incubus.]
1. A fiend or incubus formerly supposed to cause trouble in
sleep.
2. A condition in sleep usually caused by improper eating or
by digestive or nervous troubles, and characterized by a
sense of extreme uneasiness or discomfort (as of weight on
the chest or stomach, impossibility of motion or speech,
etc.), or by frightful or oppressive dreams, from which
one wakes after extreme anxiety, in a troubled state of
mind; incubus. --Dunglison.
3. Hence, any overwhelming, oppressive, or stupefying
influence.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
nightmare
n 1: a situation resembling a terrifying dream [syn: {incubus}]
2: a terrifying or deeply upsetting dream
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