Nightcap (garment)

A night-cap, also called sleepyhead, is a soft and mostly warm headgear that was worn in bed, because the bedroom were not as well heated before the introduction of central heating as it is today, if at all. While the shape of the Sleepyhead in men corresponded to a stocking cap, women wore a nightcap, whose fabric was pleated.

In the 19th century nightcaps were often used in surgery to fix bandages on his head. The pictography shows as a symbol of sleep a Moon with nightcap.

In a figurative sense, since the 18th century, is meant by " sleepyhead " and a slow, clumsy, inattentive or lazy people or a late riser. On the political cartoons nightcap is an attribute of the German Michels.