Wideawake
name, noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A bird, the sooty tern.
- 2 A type of hat with a broad brim made of black or brown felt. historical
"1884, Henry James, "The Author of Beltraffio" in The English Illustrated Magazine 1 (9–10) (June–July 1884). "He carried his benevolence to the point of coming to meet me at the little station at which I was to alight, and my heart beat very fast as I saw his handsome face, surmounted with a soft wide-awake, and which I knew by a photograph long since enshrined upon my mantel shelf, scanning the carriage windows as the train rolled up.""
- 1 Ascension Island US, informal
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"1884, Henry James, "The Author of Beltraffio" in The English Illustrated Magazine 1 (9–10) (June–July 1884). "He carried his benevolence to the point of coming to meet me at the little station at which I was to alight, and my heart beat very fast as I saw his handsome face, surmounted with a soft wide-awake, and which I knew by a photograph long since enshrined upon my mantel shelf, scanning the carriage windows as the train rolled up.""
Etymology
* From wide awake. * (hat): From a pun in Punch magazine, relating to the fact that the hat had no nap.
Named after a nearby colony of wideawakes, or sooty terns.
Related phrases
More for "wideawake"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.