waking up

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) To stop sleeping; to awake.
   • I made a speaking trumpet of my hands and commenced to whoop “Ahoy!” and “Hello!” at the top of my lungs. […] The Colonel woke up, and, after asking what in brimstone was the matter, opened his mouth and roared “Hi!” and “Hello!” like the bull of Bashan.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC
2. (transitive) To awaken somebody.
   • Wake your brother up; it's time for school.
3. (intransitive) To become more aware of a real-life situation; to concentrate on the matter in hand.
   • Some businesses were slow to wake up to the importance of the Internet.