wake 
verbs, one strong, the other weak: (a) < ME. 
wakeii (pret. irok; icnok, icoc; pi. wol-oi ; pp. 
icaken, wakin), < AS. "loacun (pret. wuc, pp. 
"icaceii), arise, come to life, originate, be born, 
= Goth, tvakan (pret. u-ok), wake, (ft) < ME. 
irnkeii, wakien (pret. waked, pp. leaked), < AS. 
tcaeian (pret. icaeode, pp. icacod) = OS. wakon 
= OFries. irnAn = I). MLG. «'oAf« = OHG. 
waclieii, wahhen, MHG. G. wacheit = leel. roAa 
= Sw. ivM'o = Dan. j'rtnfjte, wake ; cf . AS. weccan, 
weeeeaii (pret. wehte) = OS. wekkian = D. wek- 
keu = OHG. weccken, MHG. G. weaken = Goth. 
*wakjan, in eomp. nswakjati, arouse, awake ; 
akin to L. vkjil, wakeful, watchful, rigere, flour- 
ish, etc. : see vigil. Cf. wuicli, wait, from the 
same ult. source ; cf. also tcakeii, awake, 
awaken.^ I. iiiiraiis. 1. To be awake; con- 
tinue awake; refrain from sleeping. 
John the clerk, that waked hadde al nyght. 
Chaucer, Beeve's Tale, 1. S64. 
And, for my soul, I can not sleep a wink : 
I nod in company, I ivake at nights 
Pope, Irait. of Horace, 1. i. 13. 
I could wake a winter night. 
For tlie sake of somebody. 
B\irtis, My Heart is Sair. 
2. To be excited or roused from sleep ; cease 
to sleep; awake; be awakened: often followed 
by a redundant or intensive up. 
Look you, my lady 's asleep : she'll u^ake presently. 
Dekker and Webster, Northward Ho, iii. 1. 
3. To keep watch; watch while others sleep; 
keep vigil ; especially, to watch a night with a 
corpse. [Prov. Eng. and Irish.] 
And they woke ther al that nygt, 
Witli many torches & candle iygt. 
Kuiii Horn (E. E. T. S.), p. 96. 
The people assembled on the vigil, or evening preced- 
ing the saint's-day, and came, says an old author, "to 
churche with candellys burnyng, and would wake, and 
come toward night to the church in their devocion," agree- 
able to the requisition contained in one of the canons es- 
tablished by king Edgar, whereby those who came to the 
wake were ordered to pray devoutly. 
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 469. 
4. To be active ; not to be quiescent. 
1 sleep, but my heart waketk. Cant. v. 2. 
To keep thy sharp woes waking. 
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1136. 
5. To be excited from a torpid or inactive 
state, either physical or mental ; be put in mo- 
tion or action. 
Gentle airs, due at their hour. 
To fan the earth uow waked. Milton, P. L., x. 94. 
Breathed in fitful whispers, as the wind 
Sighs and then slmubers, wakes and sighs again. 
O. W. Holmes, Sympathies. 
6t. To hold a late revel ; carouse late at night. 
The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse. 
Keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels. 
Shak., Hamlet, i. 4. 8. 
7. To return to life ; be aroused from the sleep 
of death; live. 
That, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together 
with him. 1 Thess. v. 10. 
II. trans. 1. To rouse from sleep; awake; 
awaken : often followed by a redundant or in- 
tensive iq). 
She hath often dreamed of unhappiness and waked her- 
self with laughing. Shak., Much Ado, ii. 1. 361. 
Slie 's asleep witii her eyes open ; pretty little rogue ; 
I'll wake her and make her ashamed of it. 
Dekker and Webster, Northward Ho, iii. 2. 
2. To watch by night ; keep vigil with or over ; 
especially, to hold a wake over, as a corpse. 
See wuke'^, n., 3. 
And who that wil wake that Rparhank 7 dayes and 7 
nyghtes, and, as sume men seyn, 3 dayes and 3 nyghtes, 
with outeu Conipanye and with outen Sleep, that faire 
I.ady schal zeven lum, whan he hathe don, the first 
Wyssclie that he wil wyssche of erthely thinges. 
Mandeville, Travels, p. 145. 
You were rigiit, dear, from first to last, concerning the 
poor cratur's dead eliild ; she did not want to have it waked 
at all, for she is not that way — not au Irishwoman at all. 
Miss Bdijeworth, Garry Owen. 
3. To arouse ; excite ; put in motion or action : 
often with up. 
Prepare war, xvake up the miglity men. Joel iii. 9. 
'J'hou hadst been better hiive been born a dog 
Than answer my waked wrath I 
Shak., Othello, iii. 3. 363. 
He felt as one who, waked up suddenly 
To life's deliglit, knows not of grief or care. 
William Morris, Eartlily Paradise, II. 171. 
4. To bring to life again, as if from the sleep 
of death ; revive; reanimate. 
To second life 
Wak'd in the renovation of tlie jnst. 
J/i7/o/i, P. L., xi. 05. 
6806 
The willows, waked from winter's death, 
Give out a fragrance like thy breath. 
Bryant, The Arctic Lover. 
5. To disturb; break. 
No murmur waked the solemn still. 
Save tinkling of a fountain rill. 
Scott, L. of the L., ilL 26. 
■wakel (wak), «. [< ME. wake, < AS. *wacu, 
wake or watch, in comp. n»/it-jcac«, anight- wake 
(= leel. taka = ML(j. wake, watch), < wacan, 
wake : see wake^, r. Hence, in comp., likeicake, 
Uchwake.'] If. The act of waking, or the state 
of being awake ; the state of not sleeping. 
Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep 
As is the difference betwixt day and night. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iii. 1. 219. 
I have my desire, sir, to behold 
That youth and shape which in my dreams and wakes 
1 have so oft contemplated. 
B. Jonson, Staple of News, iL 1. 
2. The act of watching or keeping vigil, espe- 
cially for a solemn or festive purpose ; a vigil ; 
waker 
3. A row of damp green grass. Kncyc. Did. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
'vrakeful (wak'ful), a. [Early mod. E. wakefull; 
< wake'i- + -ful; a late ME. form substituted 
for AS. wacol, wacul (= L. rigil), vigilant, 
wakeful.] 1. Indisposed or unable to sleep; 
affected by insomnia. 
Two swains whom love kept wakeJuZ and the Muse. 
Pope, Spring, 1. 18. 
And her clear trump sings succor everywhere 
By lonely bivouacs to the wakeful mind. 
Lowell, Commemoration Ode, ix. 
2. Watchful; vigilant. 
Nor hundred eyes. 
Nor brasen walls, nor many wake/uil spyes. 
Spenser, F. Q., III. ix. 7. 
Intermit no watch 
Against a wakeful Foe. Milton, P. L., ii. 463. 
3. Rousing from, or as from, sleep. 
The tvakeful trump of doom must thunder through the 
deep. Milton, Nativity, 1. 156. 
Syn. 1 and 2. See watchful. 
specifically, an annual festival kept in com- = ''70^. l J"" 2. see tt.ai<-v'«- ,,-,,, o-, 
memoration of the completion and'dedication ^akefuly (wak ul-i) ado [ ' «^f/«' + ff 
completion 
of a parish church; hence, a merrymaking; a 
festive gathering. The wake was kept by an all-night 
watch in the church. Tents were erected in the church- 
yard to supply refreshments to the crowd on tlie following 
day, which was kept as a holiday. Through the large 
attendance from neighboring parishes at wakes, devotion 
and reverence gradually diminished, until they ultimately 
became mere fairs or markets, characterized by merry- 
makiiig and often disgraced by indulgence and riot In 
In a wakeful manner; with watching or sleep- 
lessness. 
'wakefulness (wak'ful-nes), n. [< wakeful + 
-we*«.] The state or character of being wake- 
ful ; especially, indisposition or inability to 
sleep. 
A state of mental wakefulness is favourable to attention 
generally. J. Stilly, Outlines of PsychoL, p. " 
popular nsage this word has the same meaning as viffU. -vfakeil (wa'kn), r. [< ME. waknen, wacknen, 
'I'll.! urnira m. I'ai'nl rtf i^ntmirv nar>filii.a waa nritriiiflHv tn*. , j ^ ri • , Ji- 
wakenen, < AS. wsecnan, arise, be aroused, be 
born (= Icel. vakna, become awake, = Sw. 
vakna = Dan. raagiie = Goth, ga-waknan, 
awake), with pass, formative -h, < *wacan, etc., 
wake: see wake^, and cf. awaken.'\ I. intrans. 
1 . To wake ; cease to sleep ; be awakened : lit- 
erally or figuratively. 
So that be bigan to wakne. Bavelok(E. E. T. S.X 1. 2164. 
'Tis sweet in the green spring 
To gaze upon the wakening fields around. 
Bryant, Spring-Time. 
2. To keep awake; refrain from sleeping; 
watch. 
The eyes of heaven that nightly icakeit 
To view the wonders of the glorious Maker. 
Fletcher, Mad Lover, v. 
The wake or revel of country parislies was, originally, the 
day of the week on which the church had been dedicated ; 
afterward, the day of the year. In 1,536 au act of convo- 
cation appointed that the wake should be held in every 
parish on the same day, namely, the first Sunday in Octo- 
ber; but it wjis disregarded. Wakes are expressly men- 
tioned in the "Book of Sports" of Charles I. among the 
feasts which should be observed. The wake appears to 
have been also held on the Sunday after the day of dedica- 
tion ; or, more usually, on the day of the saint to whom the 
church was dedicated. In Ireland it is called the patron 
day. Brand, Popular Antiquities. 
He is wit's pedler, and retails his wares 
At wakes and wassails, meetings, markets, fairs. 
Shak, L. L. L., v. ii. 318. 
Didsbnry Wakes will be celebrated on the 8th, 9th, and 
10th of August (1825]. . . . The enjoyments consist chiefly 
of ass-races, for purses of gold; prison-bar playing, and 
grinning through collars, for ale ; . . . and balls each even- 
ing. Quoted in Hone's Year Book, col. 958. 
3. An all-night watch by the body of the dead, 
before burial. This custom seems to be of Celtic ori- 
gin, and is now characteristic of Ireland, or of the Irish in 
other countries ; but it was formerly observed in Scotland 
and Wales. It probably originated from a superstition that 
the Ijody might be canied off by invisible spirits, or from 
a more rational fear of injury to it from wild beasts. In 
early literature it has the name of likewake, licMvake. The 
wake was originally a combination of mourning for the 
dead and rejoicing in his memory and for his deliverance, 
but in later times has often degenerated into a scene of 
wild grief and gross orgies. See likewake. 
How that the liche-wake was y-holde 
Al thilke night. Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 2100. 
The late-wake is a ceremony used at funerals. The 
evening after the death of ajiy person, the relations and 
frieiuls of the deceased meet at the house, attended by a 
bagpipe or fiddle ; the nearest of kin, he it wife, son, or 
daughter, opens a melancholy ball, dancing and greeting, 
i. e. crying violently, at the same time ; and this con- 
tinues till daylight, but with such gambols and frolics 
among the younger part of the company that the loss 
wliich occasioned them is often more than supplied by the 
consequences of that night. If the corpse remain un- 
buried for two nights, the same rites are renewed. 
Pennant, Tour in Scotland, p. 112. 
Wake^ (wak), n. [= D. wak, an opening in ice, 
< Icel. vok (vak-), a hole, opening in the ice, = 
Sw. vdk = Norw. vok = Dan. vaage, an opening 
in ice ; allied to Icel. vokr, moist, vokva, moisten, 
water, > Se. loak, moist, watery, = D. teak, 
Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white ; , . . 
The flre-lly wakens; waken thou with me. 
Tennyson, Princess, vii. 
II, trans. 1. To excite or rouse from sleep; 
awaken. 
May the winds blow till they have waken'd death. 
Shak., Othello, ii. 1. 188. 
Go, waken Eve ; 
Her also I with gentle dreams have calm'd. 
Milton, P. L., lil. 594. 
2. To excite to action or motion; rouse; stir 
up. 
YIT we wackon vp werre with weghes so f ele. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2274. 
I'll shape his sins like Furies, till I waken 
His evil angel, his sick conscience. 
Beau, and Ft., Maid's Tragedy, v. 2. 
3. To excite ; produce ; call forth. 
Venus now wakes, and icakens love. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 124. 
They introduce 
Their sacred song, and waken raptures high. 
Milton, V. L., iii 369. 
wakent (wa'kn), a. [Also dial, wacken ; < ME. 
waken, < AS. *wacen (= Icel. vakinn = Sw. vaken 
= Dan. vaagen),-pT^.ot *wacan, wake : see wake'^.'] 
Awake ; not sleeping. 
But that grief keeps me waken, I should sleep. 
Marlowe. {Imp. Diet.) 
moist ; < Teut. V wak, wet, = Indo-Eur. •/ wag, ^akener (wak'ner), «. [< waken + -€^1.] One 
L. umere, be moist, Gr. vypo;, moist: see liumtd, .^.^^^ ^^ jj^^j which wakens or rouses from sleep, 
humor, hijgro-, etc. Cf. OF. ouage, F.oiiaiche, ^^ .,g f^.^^ ^^ Feltham. Resolves, ii. 36. 
houaclie, wake, < E.] 1. The trackleft by a ship -wakening (wak'ning), n. [Verbal n. of icakeii, 
or other moving object m the water. A ship is ,, -| r^j^^ ^^^ ^f ^^g ^jj^ wakens; the act of 
ceasing from sleep. 
Sound and safely may he sleep. 
Sweetly blythe his tcaukening be ! 
Bums, Jockey's ta'en the Parthig Kiss. 
Wakening of a process, in Scots law, the reviving of a 
process in which, after calling a summons, no judicial 
proceeding takes place for a year and day, the process 
being thus said to fall asleep. 
wake-pintlet (wak'pin"tl), «. An old name of 
the wake-robin. 
wake-playt (wak'pla), «. [< ME. wake-pleye ; 
< »((/,<i + J)?ayl.] A funeral game. 
Ne how that liche-wake was yholde 
Al thilke night, ne how the Orekes pleye 
The wake-pleyes, ne kepe I nat to seye. 
Chaucer, Knights Tale, 1. 2102. 
wakerl (wa'ker), H. [< icake^ + -fi'l.] 1. One 
who wakes or rouses from sleep. 
said to follow in the wake of another when she follows in 
tlie same track, and to cross the wake of anotirer when 
she crosses the course in which the other has passed. 
In the wake of the ship (as 'tis call'd), or the smooth- 
ness which the ship's passing has made on the sea. 
Dampier, Voyages (an. 1699). {Richardson.) 
2. Hence, a track of any kind; a course of any 
nature that has already been followed by an- 
other thing or person. 
Twice or thrice ... a water-cart went along by the 
Pyncheon-house, leaving a broad wake of moistened earth. 
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xi. 
Thence we may go on, in the wake of so many travel- 
lers and conquerors, to those lands beyond the sea. 
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 294. 
A torpedo could be sent so closely in the wake of au- 
otlier as to take instant advantage of the opening made 
in the netting. 
Daily Telegraph, Sept. 26, 1886. (Encyc. Did.) 
