Incubus
WordNet
noun
(1) A male demon believed to lie on sleeping persons and to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women
(2) Someone who depresses or worries others
(3) A situation resembling a terrifying dream
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From < < < + .
Noun
- An evil spirit supposed to oppress people while asleep, especially to have sex with women as they sleep.
- A feeling of oppression during sleep; night terrors, a nightmare.
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, vol. I, New York 2001, p. 249:
- it increaseth fearful dreams, incubus, night-walking, crying out, and much unquietness [...].
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, vol. I, New York 2001, p. 249:
- Any oppressive thing or person; a burden.
- One of a genus of parasitic insects.
Etymology
From Late Latin incubus < incubo ‘nightmare, one who lies down on the sleeper’ < incubare ‘to lie upon, to hatch’ < in- ‘on’ + cubare ‘to lie’ < Proto-Indo-European base *keu(b)- ‘to bend, to turn’.