From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Nightmare \Night"mare'\ (n[imac]t"m[^a]r'), noun [Night + mare incubus. See {Mare} incubus.]
1. A fiend or incubus formerly supposed to cause trouble in sleep. [archaic]
2. A trerrifying or oppressive dream characterized by a sense of helplessness in the face of danger, extreme uneasiness or discomfort (as of weight on the chest or stomach, impossibility of motion or speech, etc.) or extreme anxiety, from which one wakes in a troubled state of mind. [1913 Webster +PJC]
3. Hence: Any overwhelming, oppressive, or terrifying experience resembling a nightmare[2] especially in the inability to escape from an unpleasant situation. [1913 Webster +PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a situation resembling a terrifying dream [syn: {incubus}]
2: a terrifying or deeply upsetting dream
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
51 Moby Thesaurus words for "nightmare": Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf-man, bad dream, bogey, bogeyman, brown study, bugaboo, bugbear, clawing, cruciation, crucifixion, daydream, dream, fantasy, fee-faw-fum, frightener, ghost, ghoul, hell, hell upon earth, hobgoblin, holocaust, holy terror, horror, incubus, laceration, lancination, martyrdom, monster, ogre, ogress, passion, persecution, phantom, pipe dream, purgatory, rack, revenant, reverie, scarebabe, scarecrow, scarer, specter, succubus, terror, torment, torture, vampire, vision, werewolf
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