I. ˈwāk verb
( woke ˈwōk ; also waked wākt ; wo·ken ˈwō-kən ; or waked also woke ; wak·ing )
Etymology: partly from Middle English waken (past wook, past participle waken ), from Old English wacan to awake (past wōc, past participle wacen ); partly from Middle English wakien, waken (past & past participle waked ), from Old English wacian to be awake (past wacode, past participle wacod ); akin to Old English wæccan to watch, Latin vegēre to enliven
Date: before 12th century
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to be or remain awake
b. archaic : to remain awake on watch especially over a corpse
c. obsolete : to stay up late in revelry
2. : awake — often used with up
transitive verb
1. : to stand watch over (as a dead body) ; especially : 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 — usually used with to
woke the public to the risks
• wak·er noun
II. noun
Date: 13th century
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 originally connected with the wake of an English parish church — usually used in plural but singular or plural in construction
c. British : an annual holiday or vacation — usually used in plural but singular or plural in construction
3. : a watch held over the body of a dead person prior to burial and sometimes accompanied by festivity
III. noun
Etymology: akin to Middle Low German wake wake, Norwegian dialect vok, Old Norse vǫk 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