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Definition of pipe dream - 4 dictionary results

pipe dream

 
Use pipe dream in a Sentence
–noun
any fantastic notion, hope, or story: Her plans for a movie career are just a pipe dream.
Origin:
1895–1900, Americanism

pipe-dream

  [pahyp-dreem]
–verb (used without object), -dreamed or -dreamt, -dream⋅ing.
to indulge in pipe dreams; fantasize.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To pipe dream
pipe dream  
n.  A fantastic notion or vain hope.

[From the fantasies induced by smoking a pipe of opium.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Idioms & Phrases

pipe dream

A fantastic notion or vain hope, as in I'd love to have one home in the mountains and another at the seashore, but that's just a pipe dream. Alluding to the fantasies induced by smoking an opium pipe, this term has been used more loosely since the late 1800s.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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