The word for today is…

hypnagogic (adj) – 1. Inducing sleep; soporific.
2. Of, relating to, or occurring in the state of intermediate consciousness preceding sleep.

Source : The Free Dictionary

Etymology : “The hypnagogic state is that heady lull between wakefulness and sleep when thoughts and images flutter, melt, and transform into wild things,” wrote Boston Globe correspondent Cate McQuaid (October 1, 1998). Some scientists have attributed alien-abduction stories to this state, but for most people these “half-dreams” are entirely innocuous. Perhaps the most famous hypnagogic dream is that of the German chemist Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz, who was inspired with the concept of the benzene ring by a vision of a snake biting its own tail. You’re not dreaming if the Greek root hypn-, meaning “sleep,” seems familiar—you’ve seen it in hypnotize. The root -agogic is from the Greek -ag?gos, meaning “inducing,” from agein meaning “to lead.” We borrowed hypnagogic (also spelled hypnogogic) from French hypnagogique in the late 19th century.

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Peter is a fourth-generation New Zealander, with his mother's and father's folks having arrived in New Zealand in the 1870s. He lives in Lower Hutt with his wife, some cats and assorted computers. His...