the.com/sleeper
The quiet thing in the corner that wins everything while nobody's watching.
means A person, product, or thing that is overlooked or unremarkable at first but turns out to be unexpectedly successful or important; also literally one who sleeps, or a railroad tie.
from From Old English 'slǣpan,' to sleep, plus the agent ending '-er' — literally 'one who sleeps.' The word stretched outward through metaphor: a 'sleeper' became a heavy timber lying flat to support railway tracks (lying down, as if asleep), and later anything dormant with hidden potential — a 'sleeper hit' that wakes up to fame, or a 'sleeper agent' lying low until activated. The thread running through every sense is the same: something at rest that is more than it appears.
- box office
- Sleeper hits earn fortunes with no marketing hype
- undercover
- Sleeper agents wait years before activating
- hidden engine
- Sleeper cars hide brutal power in plain bodies
- rail roots
- Sleeper once meant the bunk car on overnight trains
- wooden meaning
- In Britain, a sleeper is a railway track tie
the sixth sense — 1999 film that became a cultural phenomenon after word-of-mouth, earning $673m worldwide
jaws — 1975 summer release that unexpectedly became the first blockbuster, grossing $470m globally
paranormal activity — 2007 found-footage horror made for $15,000 that earned $193m at box office