wake

Verb

wake (third-person singular simple present wakes, present participle waking, simple past woke or waked, past participle woken or waked or (now colloquial) woke)

1. (intransitive) (often followed by up) To stop sleeping.
   • I woke up at four o'clock this morning.
   • How long I slept I cannot tell, for I had nothing to guide me to the time, but woke at length, and found myself still in darkness.[1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   get up, stir

2. (transitive) (often followed by up) To make somebody stop sleeping; to rouse from sleep.
   • The neighbour's car alarm woke me from a strange dream.
   • And the Angell that talked with me, came againe and waked me, […]1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Zechariah 4:1

   Synonyms:

   awaken, rouse, arouse, awake, bring round, cry, knock up, roust, uprouse, wake up

3. (figuratively, transitive) To put in motion or action; to arouse; to excite.
   • Not for my life, leſt fierce remembrance wake
     My ſudden rage to tear thee joint by joint.1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 59
   • Even Richard's crusade woke little interest in his island realm.1880, John Richard Green, History of the English People

   Synonyms:

   awaken, rouse, abet, actuate, goose, fuel, light a fire under, send, sting, bring about

4. (figuratively, intransitive) To be excited or roused up; to be stirred up from a dormant, torpid, or inactive state; to be active.
   • and gentle Aires due at thir hour
     To fan the Earth now wak'd,1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
   • Then wake, my soul, to high desires,
     And earlier light thine altar fires: […]1827, [John Keble], “Easter Day”, in The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume I, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and...

   Synonyms:

   quicken, start, startle

5. To watch, or sit up with, at night, as a dead body.
   • Dougal said that being alone with the dead on that floor of the tower (for naebody cared to wake Sir Robert Redgauntlet like another corpse) he had never daured^([sic]) to answer the call, but that now his conscience checked him for neglecting his duty; […]1824, Sir Walter Scott, Redgauntlet

   Synonyms:

   bewake, watch

6. To be or remain awake; not to sleep.
   • The father waketh for the daughter when no man knoweth, and the care for her taketh away sleepe;1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ecclesiasticus 42:9
   • And oft though wiſdom wake, ſuspicion ſleeps
     At wiſdoms Gate,1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...

   Synonyms:

   stay up, watch

7. (obsolete) To be alert; to keep watch
   • Command unto the guards that they diligently wake.

   Synonyms:

   bewake, invigilate, keep watch, watch

8. (obsolete) To sit up late for festive purposes; to hold a night revel.
   • The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse,
     Keeps wassail, and the swaggering upspring reels.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...

Noun (1)

wake (plural wakes)

1. A period after a person's death before or after the body is buried, cremated, etc.; in some cultures accompanied by a party or collectively sorting through the deceased's personal effects.
   • Where any person has died whilst being, or suspected of being, a case or carrier or contact of an infectious disease, the Director may by order prohibit the conduct of a wake over the body of that person or impose such conditions as he thinks fit on the conduct of such wake […]2003, Section 14(1)(a), Infectious Diseases Act (Cap. 137, R. Ed. 2003)
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.1697, Virgil, “Palamon and Arcite”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
   • The wood nymphs, deckt with daises trim,
     Their merry wakes and pastimes keep.1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey...
3. (Church-of-England, historical) A yearly 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.
   • Great solemnities were made in all churches, and great fairs and wakes throughout all England.1523–1525, Jean Froissart, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (translator), Froissart's Chronicles
   • And every village smokes at wakes with lusty cheer.1612, Michael Drayton, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned...
4. (obsolete, often, poetic) The act of waking, or state of being awake.
   • Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
   • Singing her flatteries to my morning wake.1677 (first performance), John Dryden, All for Love: Or, The World Well Lost. A Tragedy, […], [London]: […] Tho[mas] Newcomb, for Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC, (please specify the...
5. (collective) A group of vultures or buzzards.
   • New at the Houston Zoo: A scary, misunderstood wake of vultures2021 July 7, Jay R. Jordan, “New at the Houston Zoo: A scary, misunderstood wake of vultures”, in Chron.com, archived from the original on 26 Jul 2026
   • Growing up out in the country past University Lake, we’d frequently see a wake of vultures along the side of the road, in a pasture and sometimes even in the woods, quietly picking away at something.2025 September 1, Margot Lester, “Why Vultures Deserve a Better Reputation”, in Chapelboro.com, archived from the original on 26 Jul 2026

Noun (2)

wake (plural wakes)

1. The path left behind a ship on the surface of the water.
2. The disturbance which follows an object, person or animal moving through water.
3. The turbulent air left behind a flying aircraft.
4. (figuratively) The area behind a moving person or object.
   • The player left the rest of the field trailing in her wake.
   • This effect followed immediately in the wake of his earliest exertions.1826, Thomas De Quincey, “Lessing”, in Blackwood's Magazine
5. The perturbation behind a body moving through a fluid.

Proper noun capitalized: Wake

IPA/ˈweɪk/

Wake

1. A surname.
   • The testator, in this cause, devised and bequeathed an equal fifth part of his real estate, and of his residuary personal estate, to the plaintiff Mrs. Wake, the wife of the plaintiff Mr. Wake[…]1838, The Law Journal Reports, volume 7, page 93
2. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Wake County.
   • Mr. Boylan was public-spirited and progressive. He first saw the possibilities, and set the example of raising great quantities of cotton on the uplands of Wake.[...]Governor Swain says of him that he was dignified and grave, and it also is sure that he must have been charitable, for he is...1922, Hope Summerell Chamberlain, “Giants of Those Days”, in History of Wake County North Carolina, With Sketches of those who have Most Influenced its Development, Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton...
   • Trade with the Indians. — There is every likelihood that the brisk trade that flourished between the settlers on the coast and the Indians in the interior, both before and after the Tuscarora War, included trade in and through the woods of Wake. Although the “Trading Path to the Indians” described...1983, Elizabeth Reid Murray, “The Beginnings of Wake County's History”, in Wake, Capital Country of North Carolina, volume I, Raleigh: Captial County Publishing Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 12
3. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Wake Island.
   • This rendezvous at Wake took place on December 7, and for the next several days on board the Helena we were busy.1963, Dwight Eisenhower, “A Changed World, Formation of a Cabinet, a Mission to Korea”, in Mandate for Change 1953-1956, Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 96
   • It takes only a brief glimpse at a 1941 map of the Pacific to see why Wake Island was considered to be of such strategic value to the United States and why it was such an early target in Japan's program of conquest. As the war planners on both sides saw the situation in the late 1930s, possession...1978, Duane Schultz, “"To Deny Wake to the Enemy"”, in Wake Island: The Heroic, Gallant Fight, New York: St. Martin's Press, →OCLC, page 13