n.
Function: noun
Etymology: akin to Middle Low German wake wake, Norwegian dialect vok, Old Norse v ỏ k hole in ice
Date: 1627
1 : the track left by a moving body (as a ship) in a fluid (as water) broadly : a track or path left
2 : AFTERMATH 3
– in the wake of
1 : close behind and in the same path of travel <missionaries arrived in the wake of conquistadors and soldiers ― Sabine MacCormack>
2 : as a result of : as a consequence of <power vacuums left in the wake of the second world war ― A. M. Schlesinger b 1917>