wake 1 (w?k)v. woke (w?k) or waked (w?kt), waked or wok·en (w??k?n), wak·ing, wakes v.intr.1. a. To cease to sleep; become awake: overslept and woke late.b. To stay awake: Bears wake for spring, summer, and fall and hibernate for the winter.c. To be brought into a state of awareness or alertness: suddenly woke to the danger we were in.2. To hold or attend the wake of someone who has died.v.tr.1. To cause to come out of sleep; awaken.2. To stir, as from a dormant or inactive condition; rouse: wake old animosities.3. To make aware; alert or enlighten: The report woke me to the facts of the matter.n.1. A gathering of people in the presence of the body of a deceased person in order to honor the person and console one another.2. wakes(used with a sing. or pl. verb) Chiefly British a. A parish festival held annually, often in honor of a patron saint.b. An annual vacation.[Middle English wakien, waken, from Old English wacan, to wake up and wacian, to be awake, keep watch; see weg- in Indo-European roots.]wak?er n.Usage Note: The pairs wake, waken and awake, awaken have formed a bewildering array since the Middle English period. All four words have similar meanings, though there are some differences in use. Only wake is used in the sense “to be awake,” as in expressions like waking (not wakening) and sleeping, every waking hour. Wake is also more common than waken when used together with up, and awake and awaken never occur in this context: She woke up (rarely wakened up; never awakened up or awoke up). Some writers have suggested that waken should be used only transitively (as in The alarm wakened him) and awaken only intransitively (as in He awakened at dawn), but there is ample literary precedent for usages such as He wakened early and They did not awaken her. In figurative senses awake and awaken are more prevalent: With the governor’s defeat, the party awoke to the strength of the opposition. The scent of the gardenias awakened my memory of his unexpected appearance that afternoon years ago. · Regional American dialects vary in the way that certain verbs form their principal parts. Northern dialects seem to favor forms that change the internal vowel in the verb?hence dove for the past tense of dive, and woke for wake: They woke up with a start. Southern dialects, on the other hand, tend to prefer forms that add an -ed to form the past tense and the past participle of these same verbs: The children dived into the swimming hole. The baby waked up early.wake 2 (w?k)n.1. The visible track of turbulence left by something moving through water: the wake of a ship.2. A track, course, or condition left behind something that has passed: The war left destruction and famine in its wake.Idiom: in the wake of1. Following directly on.2. In the aftermath of; as a consequence of.[Possibly from Middle Low German, hole in the ice, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse vök.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.wake (we?k) vb, wakes, waking, woke or woken1. (Physiology) (often foll by up) to rouse or become roused from sleep2. (Physiology) (often foll by up) to rouse or become roused from inactivity3. (intr; often foll by to or up to) to become conscious or aware: at last he woke to the situation. 4. (Physiology) (intr) to be or remain awake5. (tr) to arouse (feelings etc)6. (Ecclesiastical Terms) dialect to hold a wake over (a corpse)7. archaic or dialect to keep watch over8. wake up and smell the coffee informal to face up to reality, especially in an unpleasant situationn9. (Ecclesiastical Terms) a watch or vigil held over the body of a dead person during the night before burial10. (Ecclesiastical Terms) (in Ireland) festivities held after a funeral11. (Protestantism) the patronal or dedication festival of English parish churches12. a solemn or ceremonial vigil13. (Industrial Relations & HR Terms) (usually plural) an annual holiday in any of various towns in northern England, when the local factory or factories close, usually for a week or two weeks14. rare the state of being awake[Old English wacian; related to Old Frisian wakia, Old High German waht?n] ?waker nUsage: Where there is an object and the sense is the literal one wake (up) and waken are the commonest forms: I wakened him; I woke him (up). Both verbs are also commonly used without an object: I woke up. Awake and awaken are preferred to other forms of wake where the sense is a figurative one: he awoke to the dangerwake (we?k) n1. (Nautical Terms) the waves or track left by a vessel or other object moving through water2. the track or path left by anything that has passed: wrecked houses in the wake of the hurricane. [C16: of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse vaka, vök hole cut in ice, Swedish vak, Danish vaage; perhaps related to Old Norse vökr, Middle Dutch wak wet]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014wake1 (we?k) v. waked woke, waked wok?en, wak?ing, v.i. 1. to become roused from sleep; awake; awaken; waken (often fol. by up). 2. to become roused from a tranquil or inactive state; awake: to wake from one’s daydreams. 3. to become cognizant or aware of something; awaken: to wake to the situation. 4. to be or continue to be awake. 5. to hold a wake over a corpse. 6. to keep watch or vigil. v.t. 7. to rouse from sleep; awaken (often fol. by up). 8. to rouse from lethargy, apathy, etc. (often fol. by up): It woke us up to the need for conservation. 9. to hold a wake for. 10. to keep watch or vigil over. n. 11. a watch kept, esp. for some solemn purpose. 12. a watch or vigil by the body of a dead person before burial. 13. a local annual festival in England, formerly to honor the patron saint. 14. the state of being awake: between sleep and wake. [before 900; Middle English: to be awake, Old English wacian, c. Old Frisian wakia, Old Saxon wak?n, Old Norse vaka, Gothic wakan; compare awake] wake2 (we?k) n. 1. the track of waves left by a ship or boat moving through the water. 2. the path or course of anything that has passed or preceded: The tornado left ruin in its wake. [1540?50;