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Wake

//weɪk// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 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[…]"

  2. 2
    Ellipsis of Wake County. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis

    "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 responsible for the building of the first county poor-house in Wake."

  3. 3
    Ellipsis of Wake Island. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis

    "This rendezvous at Wake took place on December 7, and for the next several days on board the Helena we were busy."

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of waking, or state of being awake. obsolete, often, poetic

    "Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep."

  2. 2
    The path left behind a ship on the surface of the water.
  3. 3
    a vigil held over a corpse the night before burial wordnet
  4. 4
    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."

  5. 5
    The disturbance which follows an object, person or animal moving through water.
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  1. 6
    the wave that spreads behind a boat as it moves forward wordnet
  2. 7
    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 […]"

  3. 8
    The turbulent air left behind a flying aircraft.
  4. 9
    the consequences of an event (especially a catastrophic event) wordnet
  5. 10
    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. Church-of-England, historical

    "1523–1525, Jean Froissart, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (translator), Froissart's Chronicles Great solemnities were made in all churches, and great fairs and wakes throughout all England."

  6. 11
    The area behind a moving person or object. figuratively

    "The player left the rest of the field trailing in her wake."

  7. 12
    A number of vultures assembled together. collective
  8. 13
    The perturbation behind a body moving through a fluid.
Verb
  1. 1
    (often followed by up) To stop sleeping. intransitive

    "I woke up at four o'clock this morning."

  2. 2
    stop sleeping wordnet
  3. 3
    (often followed by up) To make somebody stop sleeping; to rouse from sleep. transitive

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

  4. 4
    cause to become awake or conscious wordnet
  5. 5
    To put in motion or action; to arouse; to excite. figuratively, transitive

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

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  1. 6
    be awake, be alert, be there wordnet
  2. 7
    To be excited or roused up; to be stirred up from a dormant, torpid, or inactive state; to be active. figuratively, intransitive

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

  3. 8
    to alert someone to something wordnet
  4. 9
    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; […]"

  5. 10
    arouse or excite feelings and passions wordnet
  6. 11
    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;"

  7. 12
    To be alert; to keep watch obsolete

    "Command unto the guards that they diligently wake."

  8. 13
    To sit up late for festive purposes; to hold a night revel. obsolete

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

Etymology

Etymology 1

A merger of two verbs of similar form and meaning: * Middle English waken, Old English wacan, from Proto-West Germanic *wakan, from Proto-Germanic *wakaną. * Middle English wakien, Old English wacian, from Proto-West Germanic *wakēn, from Proto-Germanic *wakāną.

Etymology 2

From Middle English wake, from Old English wacu, from Proto-Germanic *wakō, related to the verb *wakjaną.

Etymology 3

Probably from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch wake, from or akin to Old Norse vǫk (“a hole in the ice”) ( > Danish våge, Icelandic vök), from Proto-Germanic *wakwō (“wetness”), from Proto-Indo-European *wegʷ- (“moist, wet”).

Etymology 4

English and Scottish surname from Old Norse vakr (“vigilant, wakeful”).

See also for "wake"

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