v. & n.
v. (past woke or waked; past part. woken or waked) 1 intr. & tr. (often foll. by up) cease or cause to cease to sleep. 2 intr. & tr. (often foll. by up) become or cause to become alert, attentive, or active (needs something to wake him up). 3 intr. (archaic except as waking adj. & n.) be awake (in her waking hours; waking or sleeping). 4 tr. disturb (silence or a place) with noise; make re-echo. 5 tr. evoke (an echo). 6 intr. & tr. rise or raise from the dead.
n. 1 a watch beside a corpse before burial; lamentation and (less often) merrymaking in connection with this. 2 (usu. in pl.) an annual holiday in (industrial) northern England. 3 hist. a a vigil commemorating the dedication of a church. b a fair or merrymaking on this occasion. be a wake-up (often foll. by to) Austral. sl. be alert or aware. wake-robin 1 Brit. an arum, esp. the cuckoo-pint. 2 US any plant of the genus Trillium. waker n.
[ OE wacan (recorded only in past woc), wacian (weak form), rel. to WATCH: sense 'vigil' perh. f. ON ]