1. 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.
Phrases and idioms:
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.
Derivatives:
waker n.
Etymology: OE wacan (recorded only in past woc), wacian (weak form), rel. to WATCH: sense 'vigil' perh. f. ON 2. n.1 the track left on the water's surface by a moving ship.
2 turbulent air left behind a moving aircraft etc.
Phrases and idioms:
in the wake of behind, following, as a result of, in imitation of.
Etymology: prob. f. MLG f. ON v{ouml}k hole or opening in ice