Definitions for: Wake


[n] a vigil held over a corpse the night before burial; "there's no weeping at an Irish wake"
[n] the wave that spreads behind a boat as it moves forward; "the motorboat's wake capsized the canoe"
[n] an island in the western Pacific between Guam and Hawaii
[n] the consequences of an event (especially a catastrophic event); "the aftermath of war"; "in the wake of the accident no one knew how many had been injured"
[v] stop sleeping; "She woke up to the sound of the alarm clock"
[v] cause to become awake or conscious; "He was roused by the drunken men in the street"; "Please wake me at 6 AM."
[v] be awake, be alert, be there
[v] make aware of; "His words woke us to terrible facts of the situation"
[v] arouse or excite feelings and passions; "The ostentatious way of living of the rich ignites the hatred of the poor"; "The refugees' fate stirred up compassion around the world"; "Wake old feelings of hatred"



Webster (1913) Definition: Wake, n. [Originally, an open space of water s?rrounded
by ice, and then, the passage cut through ice for a vessel,
probably of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. v["o]k a hole, opening
in ice, Sw. vak, Dan. vaage, perhaps akin to E. humid.]
The track left by a vessel in the water; by extension, any
track; as, the wake of an army.

This effect followed immediately in the wake of his
earliest exertions. --De Quincey.

Several humbler persons . . . formed quite a procession
in the dusty wake of his chariot wheels. --Thackeray.


Wake, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Wakedor Woke (?); p. pr. &
vb. n. Waking.] [AS. wacan, wacian; akin to OFries. waka,
OS. wak?n, D. waken, G. wachen, OHG. wahh?n, Icel. vaka, Sw.
vaken, Dan. vaage, Goth. wakan, v. i., uswakjan, v. t., Skr.
v[=a]jay to rouse, to impel. ????. Cf. Vigil, Wait, v.
i., Watch, v. i.]
1. To be or to continue awake; to watch; not to sleep.

The father waketh for the daughter. --Ecclus.
xlii. 9.

Though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps. --Milton.

I can not think any time, waking or sleeping,
without being sensible of it. --Locke.

2. To sit up late festive purposes; to hold a night revel.

The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse,
Keeps wassail, and the swaggering upspring reels.
--Shak.

3. To be excited or roused from sleep; to awake; to be
awakened; to cease to sleep; -- often with up.

He infallibly woke up at the sound of the concluding
doxology. --G. Eliot.

4. To be exited or roused up; to be stirred up from a
dormant, torpid, or inactive state; to be active.

Gentle airs due at their hour To fan the earth now
waked. --Milton.

Then wake, my soul, to high desires. --Keble.


Wake, v. t.
1. To rouse from sleep; to awake.

The angel . . . came again and waked me. --Zech. iv.
1.

2. To put in motion or action; to arouse; to excite. ``I
shall waken all this company.'' --Chaucer.

Lest fierce remembrance wake my sudden rage.
--Milton.

Even Richard's crusade woke little interest in his
island realm. --J. R. Green.

3. To bring to life again, as if from the sleep of death; to
reanimate; to revive.

To second life Waked in the renovation of the just.
--Milton.

4. To watch, or sit up with, at night, as a dead body.


Wake, n.
1. The act of waking, or being awaked; also, the state of
being awake. [Obs. or Poetic]

Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep.
--Shak.

Singing her flatteries to my morning wake. --Dryden.

2. The state of forbearing sleep, especially for solemn or
festive purposes; a vigil.

The warlike wakes continued all the night, And
funeral games played at new returning light.
--Dryden.

The wood nymphs, decked with daises trim, Their
merry wakes and pastimes keep. --Milton.

3. Specifically:
(a) (Ch. of Eng.) An annual parish festival formerly held
in commemoration of the dedication of a church.
Originally, prayers were said on the evening
preceding, and hymns were sung during the night, in
the church; subsequently, these vigils were
discontinued, and the day itself, often with
succeeding days, was occupied in rural pastimes and
exercises, attended by eating and drinking, often to
excess.

Great solemnities were made in all churches, and
great fairs and wakes throughout all England.
--Ld. Berners.

And every village smokes at wakes with lusty
cheer. --Drayton.
(b) The sitting up of persons with a dead body, often
attended with a degree of festivity, chiefly among the
Irish. ``Blithe as shepherd at a wake.'' --Cowper.

Wake play, the ceremonies and pastimes connected with a
wake. See Wake, n., 3
(b), above. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Synonyms: aftermath, arouse, awake, awaken, backwash, backwash, come alive, fire up, heat, ignite, inflame, rouse, stir up, viewing, Wake Island, wake up, waken

Antonyms: cause to sleep, dope off, doze off, drift off, drop off, drowse off, fall asleep, flake out, nod off

See Also: alarm, alert, alter, arouse, battle of Wake, battle of Wake Island, bring around, bring back, bring round, bring to, call, catch some Z's, change, change state, consequence, effect, elicit, enkindle, event, evoke, ferment, fire, island, issue, kindle, kip, log Z's, moving ridge, outcome, Pacific, Pacific Ocean, provoke, raise, reawaken, result, sit up, sleep, slumber, stay up, turn, upshot, vigil, watch, wave

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