means “the sixth hour”—i.e. noon. (Latin, sexta hora). It is applied to the short sleep taken in Spain during the mid-day heat. (Spanish, sesta, sixth hour; sestéar, to take a mid-day nap.)
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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