Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DREAM, n. [D. droom; G. traum; Sw. dröm; Dan. dröm. In Russ. dremlyu is to sleep. But I take the primary sense to be, to rove, and the word to be allied to Gr. δρομη, a running, which seems to be from the root of roam, ramble. If not, it may signify to form images, and be allied to frame.]

1. The thought or series of thoughts of a person in sleep. We apply dream, in the singular, to a series of thoughts, which occupy the mind of a sleeping person, in which he imagines he has a view of real things or transactions. A dream is a series of thoughts not under the command of reason, and hence wild and irregular. – Stewart.
2. In Scripture, dreams were sometimes impressions on the minds of sleeping persons, made by divine agency. God came to Abimelech in a dream. Joseph was warned by God in a dream. – Gen. xx. Matth. ii.
3. A vain fancy; a wild conceit; an unfounded suspicion.