pipe-dream

From pipe dream (noun).^[1]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpaɪpdriːm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpaɪpˌdrim/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

pipe-dream (third-person singular simple present pipe-dreams, present participle pipe-dreaming, simple past and past participle pipe-dreamed)

1. (intransitive) To have a desire or idea which is unlikely to materialize, or to imagine a plan which is unlikely to work; to dream of a near impossibility.
   • 1946 April, Cole Porter, “Around the World in Eighty Days [Pipe Dreaming]”, in Robert Kimball, editor, The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter, New York, N.Y.: Da Capo Press, published 1992, →ISBN, page 378, column 1:

     Love is life sublime, / Ev'ry moment that I'm / Only wasting my time / Pipe dreaming of you, / Pipe dreaming of you, […]