Slept Like A Log – Really?

Since logs really don’t sleep (at least as far as we know ….), where did the phrase, “Slept like a log” originate? The answer might surprise you.

The phrase “Slept like a log” means to sleep very soundly which makes sense, but there is also a variation of this which I had never heard of, “Sleep like a top.”

Both of these similes transfer the immobility of an object to that of a person who is sound asleep. The second phrase comes from the idea that a quickly spinning top looks to be immobile.  The first phrase dates from the 1600s with the variation being newer.

Other variations include: “Sleep like a baby” and “Sleep like a rock.”