Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. something pathetic.

1946		(con. 1914) B. Marshall George Brown’s Schooldays 170: Well, what are you standing there looking like a wet dream for?
1971		(con. WWII) B. Aldiss Soldier Erect 10: Jesus, what a wet dream of a party that was!

2. a fantasy, esp. a particularly optimistic one.

1922		Joyce Ulysses 429: He gazes ahead reading on the wall a scrawled chalk legend Wet Dream and a phallic design.
1949		H. Miller Sexus (1969) 308: What do you think life is, a wet dream?
1960		(con. 1940s) D. MacCuish Do Not Go Gentle (1962) 124: ‘Balls!’ Buzzaro snorted. ‘You’re havin’ a wet dream.’.
1971		T. Thackrey Thief 379: Here came half the detective division of the Los Angeles Police Department, knocking on my door and coming through my windows like J. Edgar Hoover having a wet dream.
1986		C. Hiaasen Tourist Season (1987) 364: Florida’s nothing but an adman’s wet dream.
1999		Indep. Rev. 29 Oct. 12: It was a porn publicist’s wet dream.
2000		Z. Smith White Teeth 25: Ryan’s freckles were a join-the-dots enthusiast’s wet dream.
2006		C. Hiaasen Nature Girl 253: Perry Skinner called it [i.e. a dump of beer cans] a ‘recycler’s wet dream.’.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 328: If this isn’t a trap, it’s a wet dream.

3. a daydreamer, one who lacks concentration.

1987

(con. 1967) E. Spencer Welcome to Vietnam (1989) 48: But they sure as shit don’t want a wet-dream leading them.