a-sleep

We fixt our selves, as much out of the way as we could, under deck: and it being not yet day, Eumolpus fell a-sleep: I, and Gito, cou'd not take a wink: when reflecting afresh, that I had harbour'd in my acquaintance, a rival more powerful than Ascyltos; I began to be much troubled: but wisely allaying my grief, I thus reason'd with my self:

The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter 20-66 Petronius Arbiter

Don said a sleepy good-night; and sure enough, five minutes later he was fast a-sleep.

A Hive of Busy Bees Effie Mae Hency Williams

Page 21 family most likely, lay still a-sleep, undisturbed by the cries and clamors of half-a-dozen brats, who had been tumbling and bawling about the house, unwashed, uncombed and half naked, but who were seized with sudden silence, and slunk behind their mother, at the sight of a stranger.

The Slave: or Memoirs of Archy Moore. Vol. II 163 p. 1836

He would repeat precedents, twist sentences, misconstrue maxims, and so perplex and entangle his own intellect that his hearers had no way of getting rid of the pain he excited; except by falling a-sleep, or determining not to listen.

The Adventures of Hugh Trevor Thomas Holcroft 1777

_Tarquin_ is in this place the general name of a ravisher, and the sense is, Now is the time in which every one is a-sleep, but those who are employed in wickedness; the witch who is sacrificing to Hecate, and the ravisher, and the murderer, who, like me, are stealing upon their prey.

Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies Samuel Johnson 1746

Mind, where the Author of _Clarissa_ has placed it; _Lovelace_ says well, when he views the persecuted _Clarissa_ a-sleep.

Remarks on Clarissa (1749) Sarah Fielding 1739