• IPA: /ˈweɪk/

wake (wakes, present participle waking; past woke, past participle woken)

1. (intransitive) (often followed by up) To stop sleeping.

   I woke up at four o'clock this morning.

   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4

     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.

2. (transitive) (often followed by up) To make somebody stop sleeping; to rouse from sleep.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Zechariah 4:1 ↗:

     And the Angell that talked with me, came againe and waked me, {{...}

   The neighbour's car alarm woke me from a strange dream.

3. (transitive, figurative) To put in motion or action; to arouse; to excite.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: Printed by J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398 ↗, [https://archive.org/stream/paradiseregaindp00milt_0#page/{page}/mode/1up page 59]:

     Not for my life, leſt fierce remembrance wake / My ſudden rage to tear thee joint by joint.

   • Even Richard's crusade woke little interest in his island realm.

4. (intransitive, figurative) To be excited or roused up; to be stirred up from a dormant, torpid, or inactive state; to be active.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 9 ↗”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗, lines 93–94:

     and gentle Aires due at thir hour / To fan the Earth now wak'd,

   • Then wake, my soul, to high desires.

5. To lay out a body prior to burial in order to allow family and friends to pay their last respects.
6. To watch, or sit up with, at night, as a dead body.
7. To be or remain awake; not to sleep.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Ecclesiasticus 42:9 ↗:

     The father waketh for the daughter when no man knoweth, and the care for her taketh away sleepe;

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 3 ↗”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗, lines 696–697:

     And oft though wiſdom wake, ſuspicion ſleeps / At wiſdoms Gate,

   • 1689 (indicated as 1690)​, [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Thomas Basset, […], OCLC 153628242 ↗:

     , Book II, Chapter I

     I cannot think any time, waking or sleeping, without being sensible of it.

8. (obsolete) To be alert; to keep watch

   Command unto the guards that they diligently wake.

9. (obsolete) To sit up late for festive purposes; to hold a night revel.
   • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene iv]:

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

• wacken

• French: se réveiller
• German: aufwachen, erwachen
• Italian: risvegliarsi, svegliarsi
• Portuguese: acordar
• Russian: просыпа́ться
• Spanish: despertarse, despertar, recordar

• French: réveiller
• German: aufwecken, wecken
• Italian: svegliare
• Portuguese: acordar
• Russian: буди́ть
• Spanish: despertar

wake (plural wakes)

1. (obsolete, poetic) The act of waking, or state of being awake.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene i]:

     Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep.

   • Singing her flatteries to my morning wake.

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.

   • 1634 October 9 (first performance)​, [John Milton], H[enry] Lawes, editor, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: Printed [by Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, OCLC 228715864 ↗; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, OCLC 1113942837 ↗:

     The wood nymphs, deckt with daises trim, / Their merry wakes and pastimes keep.

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 and/or collectively sorting through the deceased's personal effects.
2. (historical, Church of England) 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.

   • Great solemnities were made in all churches, and great fairs and wakes throughout all England.

   • And every village smokes at wakes with lusty cheer.

3. A number of vultures assembled together.

• death watch

• French: veillée funèbre
• German: Totenwache
• Italian: veglia
• Portuguese: velório
• Russian: поми́нки
• Spanish: vigilia

wake (plural wakes)

1. The path left behind a ship on the surface of the water.
2. The turbulent air left behind a flying aircraft.
3. (figuratively) The area behind something, typically a rapidly moving object.

   • This effect followed immediately in the wake of his earliest exertions.

   • Several humbler persons […] formed quite a procession in the dusty wake of his chariot wheels.

• French: sillage
• German: Kielwasser
• Italian: scia, strascico
• Portuguese: esteira, sulco
• Russian: кильва́тер
• Spanish: estela

• French: sillage
• German: Nachlauf
• Italian: turbolenza
• Spanish: estela

• wait
• watch

• IPA: /ˈweɪk/

1. Surname
   • 1838, The Law Journal Reports (volume 7, page 93)

     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 […]

2. An island in Micronesia, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs of the United States Department of the Interior and used solely by the United States Air Force.