wake (1) — ONAD

wake1 /wāk, weɪk

▸ verb

(past woke /wōk/ or waked; past participle woken /ˈwōkən, ˈwoʊkən

/ or waked)

1 emerge or cause to emerge from a state of sleep; stop sleeping:

[no object] she woke up feeling better

[with object] I wake him gently.

▪ [no object] (wake up to) become alert to or aware of:

he needs to wake up to reality.

▪ [with object] cause (something) to stir or come to life:

it wakes desire in others.

2 [with object] Irish or North American dialect hold a vigil beside (someone who has died):

we waked Jim last night.

▸ noun

1 a watch or vigil held beside the body of someone who has died, sometimes accompanied by ritual observances including eating and drinking:

he was attending a friend's wake.

2 (wakes) [treated as singular] (in some parts of the UK) a festival and holiday held annually in a rural parish, originally on the feast day of the patron saint of the church:

his workers absented themselves for the local wakes

[as modifier] wakes weeks.

[probably from Old Norse vaka.]

– PHRASES
wake up and smell the coffee [usually in imperative] informal, mainly North American
become aware of the realities of a situation, however unpleasant:

keep an eye on your friends, who may be using you—wake up and smell the coffee!

– DERIVATIVES
waker /ˈwākər, ˈweɪkər

/ noun

– ORIGIN Old English (recorded only in the past tense wōc), also partly from the weak verb wacian ‘remain awake, hold a vigil’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch waken and German wachen; compare with watch.