n. 1. The act of waking, or being awaked; also, the state of being awake. [ Obs. or Poetic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Singing her flatteries to my morning wake. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of forbearing sleep, especially for solemn or festive purposes; a vigil. [ 1913 Webster ]

The warlike wakes continued all the night,
And funeral games played at new returning light. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

The wood nymphs, decked with daises trim,
Their merry wakes and pastimes keep. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Specifically: (a) (Ch. of Eng.) 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, often to excess. [ 1913 Webster ]

Great solemnities were made in all churches, and great fairs and wakes throughout all England. Ld. Berners. [ 1913 Webster ]

And every village smokes at wakes with lusty cheer. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) The sitting up of persons with a dead body, often attended with a degree of festivity, chiefly among the Irish. “Blithe as shepherd at a wake.” Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wake play, the ceremonies and pastimes connected with a wake. See Wake, n., 3 (b), above. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Originally, an open space of water s&unr_;rrounded by ice, and then, the passage cut through ice for a vessel, probably of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. vök a hole, opening in ice, Sw. vak, Dan. vaage, perhaps akin to E. humid. ] The track left by a vessel in the water; by extension, any track; as, the wake of an army. [ 1913 Webster ]

This effect followed immediately in the wake of his earliest exertions. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

Several humbler persons . . . formed quite a procession in the dusty wake of his chariot wheels. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Waked r Woke (&unr_;); p. pr. & vb. n. Waking. ] [ AS. wacan, wacian; akin to OFries. waka, OS. wak&unr_;n, D. waken, G. wachen, OHG. wahh&unr_;n, Icel. vaka, Sw. vaken, Dan. vaage, Goth. wakan, v. i., uswakjan, v. t., Skr. vājay to rouse, to impel. &unr_;&unr_;&unr_;&unr_;. Cf. Vigil, Wait, v. i., Watch, v. i. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To be or to continue awake; to watch; not to sleep. [ 1913 Webster ]

The father waketh for the daughter. Ecclus. xlii. 9. [ 1913 Webster ]

Though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

I can not think any time, waking or sleeping, without being sensible of it. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To sit up late festive purposes; to hold a night revel. [ 1913 Webster ]

The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse,
Keeps wassail, and the swaggering upspring reels. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To be excited or roused from sleep; to awake; to be awakened; to cease to sleep; -- often with up. [ 1913 Webster ]

He infallibly woke up at the sound of the concluding doxology. G. Eliot. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To be exited or roused up; to be stirred up from a dormant, torpid, or inactive state; to be active. [ 1913 Webster ]

Gentle airs due at their hour
To fan the earth now waked. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Then wake, my soul, to high desires. Keble. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To rouse from sleep; to awake. [ 1913 Webster ]

The angel . . . came again and waked me. Zech. iv. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To put in motion or action; to arouse; to excite. “I shall waken all this company.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lest fierce remembrance wake my sudden rage. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Even Richard's crusade woke little interest in his island realm. J. R. Green. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To bring to life again, as if from the sleep of death; to reanimate; to revive. [ 1913 Webster ]

To second life
Waked in the renovation of the just. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To watch, or sit up with, at night, as a dead body. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not sleeping; indisposed to sleep; watchful; vigilant. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dissembling sleep, but wakeful with the fright. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Wake"ful*ly, adv. -- Wake"ful*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To excite or rouse from sleep; to wake; to awake; to awaken. “Go, waken Eve.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To excite; to rouse; to move to action; to awaken. [ 1913 Webster ]

Then Homer's and Tyrtaeus' martial muse
Wakened the world. Roscommon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Venus now wakes, and wakens love. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

They introduce
Their sacred song, and waken raptures high. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. pr. Wakened p. pr. & vb. n. Wakening. ] [ OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i. ] To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [ 1913 Webster ]

Early, Turnus wakening with the light. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who wakens. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of one who wakens; esp., the act of ceasing to sleep; an awakening. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Scots Law) The revival of an action. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

They were too much ashamed to bring any wakening of the process against Janet. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who wakes. [ 1913 Webster ]