[wake] vb woke also waked ; wo.ken or waked also woke ; wak.ing [partly fr. ME waken (past wook, pp. waken), fr. OE wacan to awake (past woc, pp. wacen); partly fr. ME wakien, waken (past & pp. waked), fr. OE wacian to be awake (past wacode, pp. wacod); akin to OE waeccan to watch, L vegere to enliven] vi (bef. 12c) 1 a: to be or remain awake b archaic: to remain awake on watch esp. over a corpse c obs: to stay up late in revelry
2: awake--often used with up ~ vt 1: to stand watch over (as a dead body); esp: to hold a wake over
2. a: to rouse from or as if from sleep: awake--often used with up b: stir, excite "woke up latent possibilities --Norman Douglas" c: to arouse conscious interest in: alert--usu. used with to "woke the publishers to the fact that there was an enormous ... audience --Harrison Smith" -- wak.er n
[2]wake n (13c) 1: the state of being awake
2. a (1): an annual English parish festival formerly held in commemoration of the church's patron saint (2): vigil 1a b: the festivities orig. connected with the wake of an English parish church--usu. used in pl. but sing. or pl. in constr. c Brit: an annual holiday or vacation--usu. used in pl. but sing. or pl. in constr.
3: a watch held over the body of a dead person prior to burial and sometimes accompanied by festivity [3]wake n [of Scand origin; akin to ON vok hole in ice] (ca. 1547) 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 "in the wake of trappers and ... riflemen came ... settlers --Amer. Guide Series: Ind."
2: as a result of: as a consequence of "power vacuums left in the wake of the second world war --A. M. Schlesinger b1917"