не смыкать глаз

• НЕ СМЫКАТЬ/НЕ СОМКНУТЬ ГЛАЗ

[VP; subj: human]

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⇒ not to sleep at all or not be able to fall asleep:

- X не сомкнул глаз{{}}≈ X didn't (couldn't) sleep a wink;

- X didn't have (get) a wink of sleep;

- X didn't get any sleep (at all);

- X kept (stayed) awake;

- [in limited contexts] X couldn't get back to sleep.

     ♦ Всю ночь мы не смыкали глаз. Мы счастливы возвращением к людям (Гинзбург 1). That night, neither of us slept a wink. We were happy to be among people again... (1a).

     ♦ ...Если б понадобилось, например, просидеть всю ночь подле постели барина, не смыкая глаз, и от этого бы зависело здоровье или даже жизнь барина, Захар непременно бы заснул (Гончаров 1). [If] he had had to keep awake by his master's bedside all night because his master's health and even life depended on it, Zakhar would most certainly have fallen asleep (1a).

     ♦ "Бывает, муха пролетит, ты проснешься и до утра глаз не сомкнёшь, а тут шум, споры, переполох, а тебя не добудиться" (Пастернак 1). "Sometimes, a fly will wake you up and you can't get back to sleep till morning, and here you slept through all this row and I simply couldn't get you to wake up" (1a).