| 释义 |
▪ I. wake, n.1|weɪk|
Forms: 4 wak, woke, Sc. walk, 6 wacke, also pl. (sense 4) waakes, wakesses, waks, 2– wake.
[In form the word corresponds to OE. *wacu str. fem., occurring once in nihtwaco night-watch. Compare also the wk. fem. forms, MDu. wake (Du. waak), MLG. wake, OHG. wacha (MHG., modG. wache), wakefulness, watching, watch, ON. vaka (MSw., Sw. vaka, Norw. voka) watch, vigil, eve of a feast; related to wake v. In the sense ‘state of wakefulness’, the n. is prob. in part a new formation in ME. on the stem of wake v., on the analogy of sleep vb. and n. In sense 4 adoption from ON. is possible; the sense ‘merry-making’ is found in ON. and Norw.; cf. ON. Jónsvaka, Norw. Jóns(v)oka St. John's Eve, Midsummer festivities.]
1. The state of wakefulness esp. during normal hours of sleep. Obs. exc. in sleep and (or) wake, wake and dream.
a1250Owl & Night. 1590 Al for hire louerdes sake Haueþ daies kare and niȝtes wake. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. i. 219 Making such difference betwixt Wake and Sleepe, As is the difference betwixt Day and Night. 1823‘Jon Bee’ Dict. Turf. s.v., At Bristol one eye is ever upon the wake while the other nappeth. 1844Mrs. Browning Brown Rosary ii, Repeat the vow—declare its cause and kind Which, not to break, in sleep or wake, thou bearest on thy mind. 1898J. B. Crozier My Inner Life i. iv. 33 In that half-conscious state between sleep and wake. 1913Edin. Rev. Jan. 194 Their beauty is the beauty of a kind of mirage that haunts the borders between wake and dream.
†b. A state or period of wakefulness. Obs.
1611Beaum. & Fl. Philaster ii. (1620) 22 What thinke you of a pleasing dreame to last till morning? Gal. I shall chose my Lord a pleasing wake before it. 1626B. Jonson Staple of N. ii. v, That youth, and shape, which in my dreames and wakes, I haue so oft contemplated.
†c. The act of awaking. Obs.
1678Dryden All for Love v. i, Who follow'd me, but as the Swallow Summer, Hatching her young ones in my kindly Beams, Singing her flatt'ries to my morning wake.
†2. Abstinence from sleep, watching, practised as a religious observance: often coupled with fasting. Also, an instance of this; a night spent in devout watching (on the eve of a festival, of the reception of knighthood, etc.); a watch, vigil.
c1200Vices & Vertues 125 Mid fasten, oððer mid wake. a1300Cursor M. 10302 O-mang þir hirdes duelland þare, In praier, wak, and weping sare. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xl. (Ninian) 59 & hyme abondonit ythanly in prayere, fastyng, & in wake, hyme-selfe seruand to god to mak. 1559in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. App. xvi. 48 Moreover, the Common Watchings, or Wakes, of Men and Women at the Martyrs Graves..was afterwards abrogated and rejected. 1591G. Fletcher Russe Commw. xxv. 105 b, They haue also 3 Vigils, or Wakes in their great Lent, which they cal Stoiania. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 175 As many as the place would receive watched and praied in the said Temple, But the Prince of Wales, held his wake..within the Church of Westminster. a1641Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 434 After this Supper ended followes [among the Essenes] a sacred wake, or vigill, kept in this manner.
3. The watching (esp. by night) of relatives and friends beside the body of a dead person from death to burial, or during a part of that time; the drinking, feasting, and other observances incidental to this. Now chiefly Anglo-Irish or with reference to Irish custom. Also applied to similar funeral customs in other times or among non-Christian peoples.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy iv. 3261 What shulde I now any lenger dwelle..for to telle..of þe pleies called palestral, Nor þe wrastelyng þat was at þe wake? a1529Skelton P. Sparowe 437 The gose and the gander, The ducke and the drake, Shall watche at this wake. 1572Inv. Ketshange (Somerset Ho.), Her wacke and buriall xiiijd. 1700Dryden Pal. & Arc. iii. 998 The warlike Wakes continu'd all the Night, and Fun'ral Games were played at new-returning Light. 1724Swift Acc. Wood's Exec. Misc. (1735) V. 317 When he was cut down, the Body was carried through the whole City to gather Contributions for his Wake. 1726–31Waldron Descr. Isle of Man (1865) 60 When a person dies, several of his acquaintance come to sit up with him, which they call the Wake. 1778Phil. Surv. S. Irel. 210 The series of ceremonies used on the night,..that the corpse remains unburied, is what they call a wake. 1814W. S. Mason Statist. Acc. Irel. I. 596 The Presbyterian wake is conducted with profound silence and great decorum... The wakes of the members of the established church differ little from those in other parts of Ireland. 1857Livingstone Trav. xxiii. 468 A poor man and his wife were accused of having bewitched the man, whose wake was now held in the village. 1874C. E. Norton Lett. (1913) II. 42 Sumner is dead. We have had a great wake over him, and the echoes of it have scarcely yet died away. 1894Gladstone Odes Hor. ii. xviii. 18 New contracts for new marbles thou dost make, But thou art near thy wake.
4. The vigil of a festival (and senses thence derived).
In this use wake is a translation of Eccl. L. vigilia, primarily referring to the rule of the early church that certain feast-days should be preceded by services lasting through the night. When this rule had ceased to exist, the vigil continued to be a pretext for nocturnal festivity, and the use of the word wake was extended to denote not only the eve but also the feast-day itself, and the whole period during which festivities continued.
a. The vigil or eve of a festival, and the observances belonging to this. Also, a festival. Obs. exc. dial.
15..Part of a Register (1593) 64 Their Saints dayes and their prescript seruice. Their waakes, and idolatrous bankets. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. (1812) I. clxix. 207 Great solemnytes were made in all churches, and great fyers and wakes, throughout all Englande. 1600Surflet Country Farm ii. xliii. 276, I knowe well that the common sort doe verily thinke and auerre, that this seede cannot be gathered but on the night of the wakes of S. Iohn in sommer. a1629Hinde J. Bruen xxix. (1641) 89 Their Wakes and Vigils, in all riot and excesse of eating and drinking. a1806H. K. White Poems (1837) 136 Such is the jocund wake of Whitsuntide. 1876Mid-Yorks. Gloss., Wake, casually employed in Mid-Yorks. and the north, for vigils, or the superstitious rites performed on the eves of St. Agnes and St. Mark.
b. The local annual festival of an English (now chiefly rural) parish, observed (originally on the feast of the patron saint of the church, but now usually on some particular Sunday and the two or three days following) as an occasion for making holiday, entertainment of friends, and often for village sports, dancing, and other amusements.
In modern rustic use chiefly pl. in sing. sense and often with sing. construction (cf. the double pl. wakeses, in 16th c. wakesses). The word is now current only in certain districts, mainly northern and west midland; elsewhere the equivalent term is feast or revels.
a1225Ancr. R. 314 Heo hefde ileaned one wummone to one wake on of hore weaden. c1290S. Eng. Leg. 413/381 Formest he gan haunti wakes: and for compaygnie he wax a syutor of tauernes. a1300Cursor M. 28526 At wrestelyng, at wake, rengd haf i and folud wit lust all luchery. 1562Child-Marriages (1897) 116 She had lent the crosse to a younge woman callid Anne Barker, to go to a weddinge or a wake. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. i. M 6, The maner of keeping of Wakesses, and feasts in Ailgna. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iii. 109 He haunts Wakes, Faires, and Beare-baitings. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. iv. i. (1624) 424 The very rusticks..Insteed of..Tilts, Turnaments, &c. they haue their Wakes, Whitson-ales, Shepherds feasts. 1633Chas. I. Decl. Lawful Sports 16 Wee finde..there hath been a generall forbidding..of the Feasts of the Dedication of the Churches, commonly called Wakes. 1690Locke Hum. Und. iii. xi. §10 Vulgar Notions suit vulgar Discourses, and both..serve pretty well the Market and the Wake. 1695Kennett Par. Antiq. ix. 610 The institution of these Church Encænia or Wakes, was no question on good and laudable designs. 1711Budgell Spect. No. 161 ⁋2 Had you stayed there a few Days longer you would have seen a Country Wake, which you know in most Parts of England is the Eve-Feast of the Dedication of our Churches. 1778Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Stretton, Here used to be a wake on the Sunday after All-Saints-day. 1801Strutt Sports & Past. ii. ii. 75 Wrestling, at present is seldom seen except at wakes and fairs. 1861Thackeray Four Georges ii. (1862) 97 Every town had its fair, every village its wake. 1879‘Ouida’ Cecil Castlemaine 9 Neither could she consort with gentry who seemed to her little better than the boors of a country wake. 1884Manch. Exam. 2 Sept. 5/2 The wakes in more than one place in the district had closed the workshops. 1893H. Vizetelly Glances Back I. x. 190 It chanced to be the annual wake or holiday at Castleton.
†c. transf. Applied to similar periodic festivals or revels of other countries or periods. Also occas. in pl., nocturnal revels. Obs.
1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist., Euseb. viii. xxix. 171 About the thirde Nones of March, when the citizens of Cæsarea celebrated their wakes, vpon the day of reuells, Adrianus was throwen at the feete of a fierce lion. 1588Fraunce Lawiers Logike i. xix. 66 b, Those men, saith Plato in Protagoras, that use the authoritie of others instead of argumente, of their owne, are like to seely soules of the country, when they keepe their wakes. 1634Milton Comus 121 By dimpled Brook, and Fountain brim, The Wood-Nymphs..Their merry wakes and pastimes keep. 1638Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II) 89 And most honourable commemoration hath been made of you in all our innocent disorderly wakes [en toutes nos innocentes débauches].
¶5. Used by Hogg for: A serenade, nocturnal song.
(App. associated with wait n. 8 b.)
1813Hogg Queen's Wake Introd. (1814) 5 Those wakes now played by minstrels poor, At midnight's darkest, chillest hour, Those humble wakes, now scorned by all, Were first begun in courtly hall. Ibid. ii. 139 The lake-fowl's wake was heard no more; The wave forgot to brush the shore. Ibid. 336 So low has the characters of the minstrels descended, that the performers of the Christmas wakes are wholly unknown to the most part of those whom they serenade.
6. attrib. and Comb. (senses 3 and 4), as wake-feast, wake-game, wake-light, † wake-meat, † wake-play, wake Sunday, wake-week; also with plural, wakes time, wakes week.
1886W. J. Tucker E. Europe 207 The wine bottles were replenished, and the company gathered round to partake in eagerness of the first *wake-feast, a goodly number of which would follow the decease of the thus honoured and lamented individual.
1912K. Tynan P'cess Kath. ii. 28 It was enough to bring Tom Duncan out of his grave,..to see the class of people who played *wake-games in his dining-room, and drank his whisky.
1813Hogg Queen's Wake ii. (1814) 147 Her sail was the web of the gossamer's loom, The glow⁓worm her *wakelight. 1849Whittier Kathleen 57 Get up, old man! the wake-lights shine!
a1400Gloss in Rel. Ant. I. 6 Obsonium, a *wakemete.
c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2102 Ne how that liche-wake was yholde Al thilke night, ne how the Grekes pleye The *wake pleyes, ne kepe I nat to seye.
1884St. James's Gaz. 20 June 6/1 The farmers..also keep an annual holiday which they call *Wake Sunday..on the first Sunday in August.
1863Brierley Waverlow, Trevor Hall i. 17 They were the Waverlow church bells that were ringing, for it was ‘*wakes time’.
1870‘Ouida’ Puck I. vi. 105 It was ‘*wake-week’ at a little town some twelve miles away.
1886Cheshire Gloss. s.v. Wake, It is customary for friends from a distance to visit each other during ‘*wakes week’.
7. Special comb.: † wake-day, the day on which a wake (senses 2, 4) was held; † wake-fire, a (? ceremonial) fire by which a night-watch was kept; wake-house, † (a) ? a house of vigil, or prayer; (b) Anglo-Irish (see quot. 1814); † wake-word = watch-word.
1538Elyot Dict., Esuriales feriæ, *wake dayes. 1573–80Tusser Husb. (1878) 181 To morow thy father his wake day will keepe. Then euerie wanton may daunce at hir will. 1598Bp. Hall Sat. v. ii. 107 Except the twelue-daies, or the wakeday-feast. 1681W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 596 Amongst Christians, the consecration, or wake-days of our churches.
c1450Mirk's Festial 182 Anoþer ys of clene wod and no bonys, and ys callyd a *wakefyre, for men syttyth and wakyth by hyt. 1575–6Durham Depos. (Surtees) 235 Beinge the awaike night, the said Percivall and Margarett the wyfe went to the waike fyere.
1677in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 308 This Church or *Wake House stands upon Ground Given to y⊇ Church. 1814W. S. Mason Statist. Acc. Irel. I. 318 Whenever a person of any respectability dies, two wake houses are laid out, in one of which is placed the deceased,..in the other are assembled all the young people..who entertain themselves with every species of frolic and amusement. 1856P. Kennedy Banks Boro xiv. (1867) 66 The wake-house drama of Old Dowd and his Daughters.
1510Stanbridge Vocabula (W. de W.) Diij b, Symbolum, a *wake worde.
▪ II. wake, n.2|weɪk|
Also 6 ? walk, 7 wack.
[Not found before the 16th c., but possibly much older; either directly or mediately a. ON. (*vaku) vǫk str. fem., vaka wk. fem., hole or opening in ice. The ON. word was probably applied to the path made for itself by a vessel through ice, and from this use the sense ‘trace or track of a vessel in the water’ may have been developed by Scandinavian navigators in British seas. Sense 5, ‘line of hay’, if it really belongs to the same word, may be a transferred use of the nautical sense.
The word is represented in all the Scandinavian dialects, and has been adopted in Du., Fris., and Ger. The sense ‘track of a vessel’ is found, outside Eng., only in Norw. vok (dial. vaak), NFris. (Sylt) waak; the older sense, ‘hole or channel in ice’ (sometimes, ‘a piece of water kept unfrozen by wind or current’) belongs to MSw. vaak, vak, Sw. vak (cf. Sw. väcka to cut a hole in ice), Norw. vok, Da. vaage, WFris. wek, wjek(ke, Du. wak neut., MLG., LG. (whence mod.G.) wake fem.
The word is commonly supposed to be connected with ON. vǫk-r, Du. wak, moist, damp: see wak a. This view involves some difficulty, as the ON. adj. has the stem vǫkv-, while the n. has genit. vakar, pl. vakar, -ir. Connexion with wake a. and v. seems not impossible: the freeing of the water from ice may have been regarded as an awakening.]
I.
1. The track left on the water's surface by a ship (in the sea often marked by a smooth appearance).
[a1547: see 4 a.] 1627Capt. J. Smith Sea Gram. ix. 42 The wake of a ship is the smooth water a sterne shewing the way shee hath gone in the sea. 1703W. Dampier Voy. III. i. 97 In the Wake of the Ship (as 'tis call'd) or the Smoothness which the Ship's passing has made on the Sea. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 412 The wake of a ship, (by which, I think, the sailors understand the stream drawn after the stern by its motion,) follows the ship throughout her voyage. 1820W. Scoresby Acc. Arctic Regions II. 240 An ‘eddy’ having somewhat the resemblance of the ‘wake’ or track of a ship. 1852Clough Poems, ‘Where lies the land’ 8 Or, o'er the stern reclining, watch below The foaming wake far widening as we go. 1861Dickens Gt. Expect. liv, Both steamers were drifting away from us, and we were rising and falling in a troubled wake of water. 1882W. H. White Naval Archit. (ed. 2) 553 The actual wake of a ship combines the stream line motions with those due to the frictional drag of the skin upon the water. 1913Engl. Rev. Nov. 506 Her wake was without foam and closed sluggishly behind her.
attrib.1866MacGregor ‘Rob Roy’ Baltic 229 A canoe was pulled at a rapid pace in the two wake waves astern of this great smack. 1909Bridges Paraphr. Virg. æn. VI 342 What God..Pluckt you away and drown'd i' the swift wake-water abandon'd?
†b. Phrases. to fetch (get, get into, have) the wake of (a pursued vessel): to get so close to her as to be able to see, and steer by, her wake. to stay a weather of a wake: see quot. 1706.
1644H. Manwayring Sea-mans Dict. 113 In chaseing they say, we have got her wake, that is, we are got as far into the wind as she, and so goe right after her as she goes. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 19 The Chase is about, come fetch her wack, and we will be about after her. We sail far better than she; we have her Wack. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., A Ship is said To stay a Weather of a Wake, when in her Staying she does it so speedily, that she don't fall to the Leeward, but that when she is tacked, her Wake is to the Leeward; which is a sure Sign that she feels her Helm well, and is nimble of Steerage. When a Ship being in Chace of another, has got as far into the Wind as she, and sails directly after her; the usual Saying is, That she has got into her Wake. 1748Anson's Voy. iii. viii. 377 About noon the Commodore was little more than a league from the galeon, and could fetch her wake, so that she could not now escape.
2. transf. Anything compared to the wake of a vessel.
a. The disturbance caused by a body swimming, or moved, in water.
1753Franklin Let. Wks. 1840 V. 338 There were numbers of visible animalcules; but I was sure there were likewise some which I could not see; for the wake they made in swimming to and fro was very visible. 1818Ann. Reg., Chron. 561 He [sc. the whale] swims with an astonishing swiftness..leaving a track in the sea, like a great ship; and this is called his wake. 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. iii. (1879) 39 The tracks of the penguins were marked by a fiery wake. 1891A. Lang Angling Sk. 68 The dry fly is difficult to use on a loch, as there is no stream to move it; and however gently you draw it, it makes a ‘wake’—a trail behind it.
b. The air-currents behind a body in flight.
1851Rossetti Sister Helen viii, Outside it's merry in the wind's wake,..In the shaken trees the chill stars shake. 1870N. F. Hele Aldeburgh vii. 71 The only chance of safety for the rook appeared to be his getting directly in the ‘wake’ of the falcon, and by this means the bird escaped for a long time. 1891Spectator 28 Feb., The probable object of the wedge-formation when advancing against the wind is, that each bird avoids the ‘wake’ of its neighbour.
c. A trail of light behind a luminous object (in motion), or its broken reflection in water. Also fig.
a1711Ken Prepar. Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 74 Fly up, my Soul, along the Wake, Which down from Fontal Love they make, No Lover led by Love's sweet Ray 'Ere lost his Way. 1819Montgomery Greenland i. 14 The pageant glides through loneliness and night, And leaves behind a rippling wake of light. 1847Tennyson Princess iii. 1 Morn in the white wake of the morning star Came furrowing all the orient into gold. 1889Stevenson In South Seas ii. ii. (1900) 152 The harbour lantern and two of the greater planets drew vari-coloured wakes on the lagoon. 1906E. A. Abbott Silanus xxv. 237 They depart. There is a momentary wake of light. It disappears. Then we have to wait for a new torchbearer.
d. A track or trail on land. rare.
1851Hawthorne Ho. Sev. Gables xi, Twice or thrice..a water-cart went along by the Pyncheon-house, leaving a broad wake of moistened earth. 1888Stevenson Black Arrow v. iv, Thus they had left a wide, discoloured wake upon the snow.
3. A course, or general line of direction, that a ship has taken, or is to take.
c1595Capt. Wyatt R. Dudley's Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.) 52 Wee..altered that course and bare for the coste of Florida..to lie in the wake of the fleet of the West Indies bounde for Spaine. 1722De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 190 They were..quite out of the wake of the Bermudas. 1871B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. v. 279 And from the shore to swifter wakes The willing sea the vessels takes.
4. in the wake of.
a. Naut. or quasi-nautical. in the wake of (a vessel); in her (its) wake, etc.: immediately behind, and (properly) in the actual track made by, a vessel; immediately backward and along the track made. Also used of any person or persons aboard, as in his, our, etc., wake; behind his, our, etc., vessel.
a1547MS. Harl. 309 f. 4 No ship to ride in another's walk. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v., A ship is said to be in the wake of another, when she follows her on the same track. 1839tr. Lamartine's Trav. 22/1 The frigate, which has us in tow, hollows out ahead of us a level and murmuring path, along which we glide in her wake. 1847Prescott Peru (1850) II. 323 [They] fell on his little troop whenever he attempted to land, and followed in his wake for miles in their canoes. 1898F. T. Bullen Cruise of ‘Cachalot’ 193 The Mysticetus' best point of view is right behind, or ‘in his wake’, as we say.
b. Naut. in transferred uses: (a) In the direct line aft from (any object on board ship, or any specified part of her). Usually in wake of. (b) In the line of sight of (an observed object). (c) In the line of recoil of (a gun).
(a)1711W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 44 The Timbers to be equally scarfed, the Middle of one Timber being in the Wake of the Head and Heels of the others. 1745P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 138 We found our own Main-top-mast sprung in the Wake of the Cap. 1869E. J. Reed Shipbuild. i. 5 The bottom was strengthened by doubling the whole of the inner plates up to the turn of the bilge for 50 feet in wake of the engines. 1879W. H. White Ship-Build. in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 61/1 These longitudinal tie-plates form excellent strengthenings to the deck in wake of the principal hatchways. 1896Daily News 4 Nov. 2/4 The deck, which was also found to be started in the wake of the mast.
(b)1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v., Two distant objects observed at sea are called in the wake of each other, when the view of the furthest is intercepted by the nearest.
(c)c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 69 They give..support to the beams in the wake of the guns. 1874Thearle Naval Archit. xviii. §288. 303 In the wake of the explosion of the heavy guns, as at the embrasures, etc., the whole of the frames are of the larger size.
c. transf. and fig. (a) With nautical metaphor (often jocular): Following close behind (a person compared to a ship). (b) In wider use (cf. 2): In the train or track of, behind (a moving person or object); in imitation of; following as a result or consequence.
(a)1806Cumberland Mem. 114 A great man in office is like a great whale in the ocean; there will be a sword-fish and a thresher, a Junius and a John Wilkes, ever in his wake and arming to attack him. 1822W. Irving Braceb. Hall ii. 19 He was swept off in the vortex that followed in the wake of this lady. 1849Miss Mulock Ogilvies ii, She found herself..following in the wake of her stately parents. 1901Meredith Reading of Life 1 Each claims worship undivided In her wake would have us wallow.
(b)1840Dickens Old C. Shop xlv, Night, when carts came rumbling by, filled with rude coffins..; when orphans cried, and distracted women shrieked and followed in their wake. 1866Mrs. H. Wood St. Martin's Eve v, Such love does not bring peace in its wake. 1875Merivale Gen. Hist. Rome lxxx. (1877) 683 Wealth followed in the wake of traffic. 1877Black Green Past. xxxii. 256 Brown dust that came rolling in the wake of our carriage. 1894H. Drummond Ascent of Man 214 [A man], when he talks of the hum of machinery or the boom of the cannon,..is following in the wake of the inventors of Language. 1911G. Macdonald Roman Wall Scot. x. 351 A proof that Eastern traders had found their way as far north as the Caledonian frontier in the wake of the Roman army.
II.
5. A line of hay prepared for carting. dial.
1847Halliwell Wake, hay placed in large rolls for the convenience of being carried. West. Ibid., Wakes, rows of green damp grass. 1872–4Jefferies Toilers of Field (1892) 259 The waggon safely jolted over the furrow, and on between the wakes of light-brown hay. 1879― Wild Life in S. Co. vii. 143 Watching that the ‘wallows’ may be turned over properly, and the ‘wakes’ made at a just distance from each other.
III. 6. An open hole, or unfrozen place in the ice. dial. (East Anglia.)
1895P. H. Emerson Birds etc. Norf. Broadland ii. xiii. 379, I passed a ‘wake’—or open space in the ice—where the swans were swimming like sentries on duty.
▪ III. † wake, n.3 Obs. rare—1.
[Possibly a. some native African word, but evidently regarded by Jobson as onomatopœic.]
A North African bird.
1623R. Jobson Golden Trade 155 The next [bird] in greatnesse, is called a Wake, in regard of the great noyse hee makes when hee flyeth, which resembleth what he is called by:..[it] is a bird of great stature, hauing the vpper part of his head carrying a beautiful shew, with a pleasing tuft on his Crowne, which I haue seene worne by great personages here at home.
▪ IV. wake, a. Obs. exc. dial.
[? Aphetic var. of awake.]
Not sleeping, awake. (Only pred.)
1414Brampton Penit. Ps. (Percy Soc.) 16 Er ryghtwysnesse be fully wake. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. June 87 Well couth he..tell vs mery tales, to keepe vs wake. 1745W. Thompson Sickness iii. 295 [iv. 288] What guilt is mine, that I alone am wake, Ev'n tho' my eyes are seal'd, am wake alone?
▪ V. wake, v.|weɪk|
Forms: inf. and pres. stem. α. (? 1 wæcnan: see waken v.) β. 1–2 wacian, 1 waciᵹan, waciᵹean, wæcian, 1–2 wacyan, 2 wacyᵹan, 2–3 wakian, wakien, wakeȝen, 3 wakenn (Orm.), 3–5 waken, 4 waki, waky, 4–5 wakke, waake, 3– wake. north. and Sc. 4 wack, vak (pres. pple. vakand, wacand, quakand), 4–5 wak, 4–6 waik, valk, 4–8 walk, 5 waulk, 6 vaik(e, walke, 8 wauk, wawk. pa. tense α. 1 wóc, 3–4 woc, 3–5 wok, 4–6 wook(e, 7 wake, 9 'woke, 3– woke; pl. 3 wokenn (Orm.), 4–5 woken, -yn, 5 waken. north. and Sc. 4 wock, 4–6 wouk(e, woik(e. β. 1 wæcade, wacode, pl. wacedon, -odon, 2–4 wakede, 4–5 wakid, walkid(e, etc., 4–6 Sc. walkyt, -it, 6 wakt(e, 6–7 wak't, 7–8 wak'd, 4– waked. pa. pple. α. 4, 6 waken, 5 wakyn (?), 7, 9– woken, 8– woke. β. 4 i-waked, Sc. walkit, 4–6 wakid, -yd, 6 dial. wayket, Sc. walked, 6–7 wakt, 7 wak't, 7–8 wak'd 3– waked.
[Two distinct but synonymous verbs from the same root coalesced in early ME.:
(i) The strong verb OE. (? wæcnan), wóc, wócon, *wacen. (The present-stem is wanting, unless it be presented by wæcnan: see waken v.) The strong pa. tense is found only in English; the strong pa. pple., not recorded in OE., but found in later periods, occurs in ON. vakenn, and as adj. (‘awake’) in MSw. vakin, Sw., Norw. vaken, Da. vaagen; N.Fris. vaaken is prob. from Scandinavian.
(ii) The weak verb OE. wacian, corresponding to OFris. wakia, waka (mod. WFris. weitsje, NFris. waake), OHG. wahhên, wachên, -ân (MHG., mod.G. wachen), ON. vaka, pa. tense vakða (Norw., MSw., Sw. vaka, Da. vaage), Goth. wakan:—OTeut. *wakǣjan (whence also the OE. doublet wæccan watch v.), or to OS., OLow Frankish wakon (MDu., Du., MLG., LG. waken), OHG. wachôn:—OTeut. *wakōjan.
The Teut. root *wak- (:—*wōk- in Goth. wōkains wakefulness, and, with different sense, in Goth. wōkr-s, OE. wōcor, ON. okr growth, increase, usury: see ocker n.1) represents a pre-Teut. *wag-: *weg-; cf. L. vegēre to rouse, excite, also intr. to be lively or active, vigēre to be vigorous, vigil wakeful, Skr. vājas neut. vigour; perh. to be referred to the Indo-Eur. root *aweg-, represented by L. augēre, Goth. aukan to increase, OE. éacan to grow (see eke v.), and with -s extension by Gr. αὐξάνειν to increase, OTeut. *waχs- to grow (see wax v.).
In OE. the strong verb had probably the sense ‘to become awake’, though this is evidenced only in the compound on-wæcnan, the simple verb being found only in the sense ‘to come into being’, which may either be a figurative use of the sense ‘to awake’, or represent a different application of the original wider sense of the root. The weak verb had the static sense ‘to be or remain awake’. In ME. the strong and weak forms came to be used indiscriminately in both senses. Out of the sense ‘to become awake’ there was developed a causative sense, ‘to rouse from sleep’, in which the word superseded wecche (OE. węccan:—OTeut. *wakjan). The sense ‘to remain awake, watch’ gave rise to a transitive use = ‘to watch (over)’; but in the modern Eng. period the static sense, both intr. and trans., has become almost obsolete, the usual meanings of the word being ‘to become or cause to become awake’.
The mod. pa. tense woke |wəʊk| does not regularly represent the OE. wóc, which would have yielded wook |wʊk|. Apparently the mod. woke is a new formation or modification on the analogy of broke, spoke (for the irregularity in the vowel cf. stove pa. tense of stave v.). When this came in is uncertain, for in ME. and prob. in early mod.E. the spelling woke represents the regular phonetic descendant of the OE. wóc. The pa. pple waken has always been rare, and now survives only in dialects in adjectival use. From the 17th c. onwards the forms woke, woken (after broke, broken, spoke, spoken, etc.) have been more or less current for the pa. pple.; woke seems obsolescent, but woken is at least as frequent as waked. No strong forms either of pa. tense or pple. are found in Shakes., the Bible of 1611, or Milton's verse.]
I. To remain awake.
1. a. intr. To be or remain awake; to keep oneself, or be kept, awake. Also, to be still up and about (at night). Now rare exc. in waking (pr. pple. and ppl. a.).
αc1290Beket 687 in S. Eng. Leg. 126 On of its seriaunz sat a niȝt, þe ȝwile þat men woke, In his chaumbre at caunterburi. a1300Cursor M. 20127 Scho wok wil mar þan scho slepp. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxx. (Theodera) 448 To þat worde gud tent he tuk, & þat nycht mekyl woike. 1387Trevisa Higden IV. 303 Whanne Cinna his tresoun was i-knowe Cesar wook al þat nyȝt [MS. β wakid, γ wakede]. c1450Mirk's Festial 223 Þay madyn her bed, and dydyn hur þeryn,..and waken tyll hyt was mydnyght; then all fellyn on slepe saue þe apostols. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xlii. 34 Langour..That nevir sleipit bot evir wouke. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 558 So greit displesour in the tyme he tuik, But meit or sleip rycht lang fastit and woik. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair lxii, Whether he woke or slept his friends did not very much miss him.
βc900Beda's Hist. ii. xii. (1890) 128 Ða fræᵹn he hine, hwæt þæs to him lumpe, hwæðer he wacode þe slepe. c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 6 Þonne sceal se man wacyan ealle þa niht þe ðone drenc drincan wille. a1225Ancr. R. 4 Þet techeð al hu me schal..eten, drincken, werien, liggen, slepen, wakien [sic MS.; printed walkien]. c1381Chaucer Parl. Foules 482, I wol ben hirs whethir I wake or wynke. c140026 Pol. Poems xv. 88 To slepe, quod þe eyȝe, we may not wynne, Þe wrecched wombe so doþ vs wake. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 2791 Þe seke man to slepe lyse; he had lang waked beforne. c1500Melusine 7 He..knew nat yf it was day⁓light or nyght, ne yf he slept or wakked. 1508Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 213 Than ly I walkand for wa, and walteris about. 1611Tourneur Ath. Trag. ii. vi, I cannot force myselfe to wake. (sleepes). 1640tr. Verdere's Rom. of Rom. II. 23 The extream desire that he had to see her, made him to wake when others tooke their rest. 17..Auld Man's best Argt. in Ramsay's Tea-t. Misc. (1762) 154 O Wha's that at my chamber door? ‘Fair widow, are ye wawking?’ 1784R. Bage Barham Downs I. 32, I..threw myself dressed upon the bed, and—waked all night. 1790Burns Ay waukin O, When I sleep I dream, When I wauk I'm eerie. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop lxx, They cannot..be waking at this late hour. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii. IV. 217 In all places, at all hours, whether he waked or slept. 1902‘Violet Jacob’ Sheep Stealers ix, Waking and sleeping she had pictured his arrest.
fig.1697Congreve Mourn. Bride iii. i, Reason,..the twinkling Lamp Of wand'ring Life, that winks and wakes by turns.
b. with advb. obj. the night, a night (poet.). Also, to wake it.
αc1480Henryson Test. Cresseid 471 Weping, scho woik the nicht fra end to end.
βa1547Surrey in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 221 To waile the day and wake the night continually in paine. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) I. 58 These have nothing to do but to sleep it, to wake it. 1787Burns ‘My heart is sair’ i, I could wake a winter night For the sake o' somebody. 1820Keats Isabella vii, So once more he had wak'd and anguished A dreary night of love and misery.
c. quasi-trans. with complement.
In the first quot. the omission of some such word as Theobald's ‘blind’ seems certain.
1611Shakes. Cymb. iii. iv. 104 Ile wake mine eye-balles [blind] first. 1766C. Beatty Tour (1768) 37 Sleeped and waked the night away as well as we could.
†d. With unfavourable implication: To sit up late for pleasure or revelry; to turn night into day. Obs.
α13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1025 For-þy wonderly þay woke, & þe wyn dronken.
β1340Ayenb. 52 Þet uolk þet late louieþ to soupi and to waki be niȝte. 1387–8T. Usk Test. Love ii. ii. (Skeat) l. 54 Suche there ben..that til midnight and more wol playe and wake, but in the churche at matins he is behynde. a1529Skelton Bowge of Courte 382 Thou muste..wake all nyghte, and slepe tyll it be none. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. iv. 8 The King doth wake to night, and takes his rouse.
2. a. To stay awake for the purpose of watching or tending; to keep watch while others sleep, be on guard at night. Const. on, upon, over, for, against; also to (do something). Also with cognate obj., to wake watch. Now only dial., to sit up at night with a person, esp. one who is sick.
In 16th c. Sc. use wake and ward (see ward v.) = ‘to keep watch and ward,’ as a duty incumbent on the freeman of a burgh.
αc1200Ormin 3752 Hirdess wokenn o þatt nahht Þatt Crist wass borenn onne. c1400Rowland & Otuel 1187 Grete lordes riste toke, & nyghte wache full worthily wooke. 1430–40Lydg. Bochas iii. vii. (1554) 79 b, And lyke a mother to bryng thee aslepe, I woke ful oft. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 284 By this gardyn is vnderstonde the yle. By the serpent wakyng, the subtyll geant commysid to kepe hit that allway wook at the paas.
β Beowulf 660 Waca wið wraþum. c825Vesp. Psalter cxxvi. 1 In vanum vigilant qui custodiunt eam, in idelnisse wæciað ða haldað hie. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 31 Þe herdes þe wakeden ouer here oref. c1350Leg. Rood 76/525 And seker men he sett to wake, So þat þai suld no harmes take. c1465Eng. Chron. (Camden 1856) 62 Alle the weyez about the said toun off Bury..were kept with gret multitude of peple of the cuntre, wakyng day and nyghte. 1521in Marwick Edin. Guilds (1909) 65 The communitie of the wobstaris walkis, wardis, extentis, and beris all other commoun chargis within this toune. 1533Bellenden Livy iii. ix. (S.T.S.) I. 282 Na thing was done in þe nycht following Except onelie þe pepill walkit in all partis of þe ciete. 1565J. Hall Crt. Vertue 32 Watchmen, whiche wake al y⊇ night. 1580in Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1870) I. 99 All..to cum duell..within the burgh quhair they ar frie, hald stob and staik within the samyn, scatt, loitt, watche, walk and waird with the inhabitantis thairof. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 368 Let Eve..Here sleep below while thou to foresight wak'st. 1699R. L'Estrange Erasm. Colloq. (1725) 195 Only let one wake with me, to read to me. 1754J. Shebbeare Matrimony (1766) I. 22 She determined to wake by his Bed-side all Night. 1811Willan West Riding Words in Archæologia XVII. 162 Waite, and Wake, v. to sit up with a person all night, or to watch by a corpse. 1847C. Brontë J. Eyre xxv, You promised to wake with me the night before my wedding. 1865N. & Q. Ser. iii. VII. 84/1 ‘They have waked with him for several nights’, is a common expression in Lancashire. 1883Almondbury Gloss., Wake, to watch with a sick person; to work by candlelight.
†b. fig.
c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxiv. 42 Waciᵹeað [v.rr. Waciað, Waciᵹað] witodlice, forþam þe ᵹe nyton on hwylcyre tide eower Hlaford cuman wyle. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 41 Ðus aȝen alle gode herdes to wakeȝen gostliche. c1200Ormin 3792 To frofrenn þa þatt wakenn wel Onnȝæness laþe gastess. 13..E.E. Allit. P. C. 130 Þe welder of wyt..þat ay wakes & waytes. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 142 Þo fende is a theff to wake on mon bothe day and nyȝt. c1480Henryson Swallow & other Birds 304 Exhortand folk to walk and ay be wair Fra nettis of oure wickit enemie. 1562Winȝet Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 6 War ȝe commandit in vaine of God..to walke attentlie and continualie vpon ȝour flok?
†c. said of the eyes, the brain. Obs.
1601Sir J. Ogle in Sir F. Vere Comm. 152 He had his head and his hands full; ours had not aked now, had not his waked then..for our safeties. 1601B. Jonson Poetaster, Envie 4 This is it, That our sunke eyes haue wak't for, all this while. 1639Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 122 The power of heaven, whose eies are ever waking on miserable creatures. 1667Milton P.L. v. 44 Heav'n wakes with all his eyes, Whom to behold but thee, Natures desire.
3. To stay awake or pass the night in prayer; to stay up during the night as an exercise of devotion; to keep vigil (in church, by a corpse, etc.). Const. in, on. Obs. exc. dial.
α1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 8043 Þe toþer nyȝt þat þe chyldryn woke, At þe mydnyȝt þe bere quoke. c1330Assump. Virg. (Add. MS.) 761 Thei leide þe bodi in a stone..And woke þer al þat nyȝt With many torches & candle lyȝt. 1387Trevisa Higden V. 191 He..wook al þat nyȝt in his prayers. 1483Caxton Golden Leg. 87/3 He woke in prayers and made hys body lene.
βc1000ælfric Saints' Lives xxi. 290 Hwilon wacodon menn swa swa hit ᵹewunelic is ofer an dead lic. a1225Ancr. R. 276 Bihold, holie men þet weren sumehwules, hwu heo uesten, & hwu heo wakeden. c1290St. Scholastica 8 in S. Eng. Leg. 198 He..teiȝte hire penaunce forto don, to faste and to wake. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xx. 368 Tyl contricioun hadde clene forȝeten to crye & to wepe And wake for his wykked werkes as he was wont to done. c1450Mirk's Festial 182 Men and woymen..wakyd in þe chyrch al þe nyht yn hor deuocions. 1900H. Sutcliffe Shameless Wayne xxvi. (1905) 333 Soon as he is dead, you are to come with your folk to wake beside the body.
†4.
a. To stay awake for any work or active occupation; to pass the night in work, study, etc. Const. in, for, on or upon, to. Obs.
α1471Ripley Comp. Alch. i. ix. in Ashm. (1652) 131 For thys I wooke: Many a nyght or I hyt wyst. 1481Caxton Godfrey clxxix. 264 They woke al the nyght as wel they as theyr peple, in such wyse that theyr engyns were alle ioyned and reysed vp byfore day. 1517Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. V. 157 Item, to the franche talbanaris and menstralis that woik and playit all that nycht, in aile, viij s.
βc900Bæda's Hist. iv. xxv. (1890) 354 Alle..oððe hefiᵹe slæpe syndon, oððe to synnum wacedon. c1300Havelok 2999 Þat ilke of you..Seye a pater-noster stille For him þat haueth þe rym maked, And þer-fore fele nihtes waked. 1352Minot Poems i. 51 Many nightes als haue þai waked To dere all Ingland with þaire dede. c1386Chaucer Miller's T. 168 Absolon his gyterne hath ytake, For paramours he thoghte for to wake. 1480Caxton Myrr. i. v. 17 They waked & studyed many nyghtes and many dayes. a1593Marlowe Massacre at Paris 105 (Brooke) For this, I wake, when others think I sleepe. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, i. i. 249 Watch thou, and wake when others be asleepe, To prie into the secrets of the State.
†b. fig. To be active, alert, stirring, vigilant. Const. as above; also, to be diligent, exert oneself to (do something). to wake over, to occupy one's mind with. Obs.
α1352Minot Poems ix. 33 Wele haue þai waken, For syr Dauid þe Bruse was in þat tyme taken. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxvii. (Machor) 1468, & fra þat he sic charge tuk, he trawalyt besyly & wok till his discipulis for to preche, & als þe puple besyly teche.
βc897ælfred Gregory's Past. C. lxiv. 461 Se kok..hefð up his fiðru, & wecð hine selfne, ðæt he wacie on ðære ᵹeornfulnesse godra weorca. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 142 Myche more in state of synne schulde mon wake in Gods servise. c1383in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1911) Oct. 749 Prelatis & seculer lordis shulden wake diligentli [diligenter vigilarent] to ordeyne able prelatis & curatis. c1470Henry Wallace v. 655 On other thing he maid his witt to walk. 1501Douglas Pal. Hon. iii. xviii, All thir on Venus seruice vaikis. 1771Goldsm. Hist. Eng. IV. 77 He incessantly waked over the schemes of contending kings and nations. 1866Kingsley Herew. v, I have other things to wake over than making love to you.
†c. With clause: To take care that (something be done). Obs.
a1425tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula, etc. 38 Þerfore wake ȝe þat ȝe putte noȝt ȝoure hand to þis but in giffyng clisteries.
†d. quasi-trans. To give diligent heed to, be active in (a matter). Obs. (Cf. sleep v. 7.)
1525Ld. Berners Froiss. (1812) II. cxiii [cix]. 326 The emperour..slept nat his busynes, but waked the mater, as ye shall here.
5. Phr. to † hold waking or keep waking; earlier, † to hold waken: To prevent from sleeping; to keep watchful or on the alert. † Formerly: To keep (a person, esp. an enemy) occupied, ‘give (him) plenty to do’, allow (him) no rest; to trouble, harass; also refl. to be on the alert.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 9196 When þe Bretons þe hil had taken, Wyþ sege þe Payens held þem waken. Ibid. 9914 No scaþe ȝit þe toun had taken, For þey wyþynne held þem wel waken. 1352Minot Poems ix. 50 He wakkind þe were þat held him self waken. c1410Lantern of Light 52 Þei..holden waken her ynward iȝe. 1533Bellenden Livy ii. xxvi. (S.T.S.) I. 238 [He] causit horsmen with swasche and taberne to play all nycht about þe trynchis, to hald þare Inemyis walkand to þe morow. 1535Coverdale Ps. lxxvi[i]. 4 Thou heldest myne eyes wakynge. 1549Compl. Scot. 6 Ȝour nobil fadir held the grit armye of enemeis valkand on ther tothir syde, throucht the grit assaltis ande escarmuschis that he maid contrar them. 1568Grafton Chron. I. 366 Then to followe the Frenche men, but not immediately to fight with them, and to harry them and keepe them waking. 1593Shakes. Lucr. 1136 Whiles against a thorne thou bear'st thy part, To keepe they sharpe woes waking. 1624Fletcher Rule a Wife v. iii. 67 Have I not kept thee waking like a hawk? And watch'd thee with delights to satisfy thee. a1670Spalding Troub. Chas. I (Bannatyne Club) I. 2 Thus they lived as outlaws, oppressing the countrie,..and openly avowed they had tane this course to gett their own possessions again, or then hold the country walking. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 162 This confusion of my Thoughts kept me waking all Night. 1793Minstrel I. 87 She was heard by the person who lodged in a room adjoining the closet, and who had been kept waking by ill health.
6. a. trans. To watch or guard (one who sleeps); to watch or guard (a person or thing) at night or while others sleep; to keep watch upon or over. Obs. exc. dial.
c1200Ormin 3773 Þa wakemenn Þatt wokenn heore faldess. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paulus) 355 He set it vpe beside his falde, quhare þat he wok his fe one nycht. c1400Mandeville (1839) xiii. 145 O tyme befelle, that a Kyng of Ermonye..woke that Hauk sum tyme. c1440Jacob's Well 53 On a nyȝt as he wooke his dyche of colys. c1480Henryson Fox, Wolf & Husb. 144 He chaippit frome thair ill, And on his feit wouke [v.r. woke] the dure quhill day. 1504Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. II. 424 Item, to the man that woke the fald all ȝeir quhair the deir was tane, xiiijs.
βa1300Cursor M. 18660 Ne iesus..Moght neuer dei..Ne slepe, þat has to wak us all. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 85 Þen þay cayred & com þat þe cost waked. 1375Barbour Bruce vii. 179 May I trast the me to valk, Till I a litill slepyng tak? a1450Le Morte Arth. 2591 Lordyngis, a whyle I rede we lende And oure worthy wallys wake. a1529Skelton P. Sparowe 668 How Scipion dyd wake The cytye of Cartage. 1543–4Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VIII. 250 Item, to thre men quhilk be the space of tua nychtis walkit the saidis boittis. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. 389 The peiple was compelit to wake the barnes. 1790Burns Tam Glen vii, The last Halloween I was waukin My droukit sark-sleeve, as ye ken.
b. To keep watch or vigil over (a dead body) until burial; to hold a wake over (see wake n.1 3). Now only dial., chiefly Anglo-Irish.
αc1300Beket 2215 In a bere faire hi hit leide and tofore an auter hit woke. c1440Jacob's Well 187 Hyre sone, a munke, & here dowȝter, a nunne, wokyn here body iij. nyȝtes in cherche.
βc1250Gen. & Ex. 2516 Hise liche was spice-like maked, And longe egipte-like waked. 1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 8034 To wake here body were þey set: Þe fyrst nyght þat þey shulde here wake, At mydnyȝt þe bere gan to quake. 1375Barbour Bruce xiii. 513 Than till a kirk he gert hym be Brocht, and walkit all that nycht. a1500Chaucer's Dreme 1906 The corses, which with torche light, They waked hadde there all that night. 1548Lancs. Wills (1860) II. 199 My dettes taykyne vppe and payde and my bodye extyneguseshed honestly wayket broghfurth and buryd. 1819W. S. Rose Lett. N. Italy I. 250 They wake their dead the night before interment, performing certain games about the bier. 1824Scott Redgauntlet Let. xi, Naebody cared to wake Sir Robert Redgauntlet like another corpse. 1829M. Edgeworth Garry Owen (1832) vii. 46 You were right, dear, from first to last concerning the poor cratur's dead child; she did not want to have it waked at all, for she is not that way—not an Irishwoman at all. 1834Marryat P. Simple li, May you die of a good old age..and be waked handsomely. 1898F. P. Dunne Mr. Dooley in Peace & War 188 They waked th' oldest son in small beer, an' was little thought of. 1959T. H. White Godstone & Blackymor 168 Everybody was trying to amuse Charlie Plunkett. Otherwise, why ‘wake’ him? 1974D. Sears Lark in Clear Air ix. 117 They waked Holly Dallan in the parlour of the log house where she had been born and reared.
†c. ? To pass the night by (a well) as a superstitious observance. Obs.
c1430in Rel. Antiq. I. 1, I have forsworne hit whil I life, to wake the well. The last tyme I the wel woke, Sir John caght me with a croke.
†d. To be confined in (prison). Obs.
1338R. Brunne Chron. (1725) 160 If he of his mot take ouþer erle or baroun, His prison suld he wake, þat wer deppest donjoun.
II. To become awake.
7. a. intr. To come out of the state of sleep or unconsciousness; to be roused from sleep, cease to sleep. Const. † of (obs.), from, out of (sleep, etc.); to (a condition or state), to (do something). Cf. awake v. 1.
αc1250Gen. & Ex. 2111 Ðe king abraid and woc in ðhogt. c1275Lay. 25566 Þo he woc [c 1205 awoc] of sleape. c1300Havelok 2093 Aboute þe middel of þe nith Wok Ubbe, and saw a mikel lith. 1387Trevisa Higden VII. 411 He..wook of his sleep, and heet brynge liȝt. c1435Torr. Portugal 280 Ye, seyd Torrent, ore he be wakyn, I schall the tell soche a tokyn. c1480Henryson Lion & Mouse 97 Till at the last the noble lyoun woke [v.r. wouk]. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. (1812) I. cccxxii. 501 The watchmen were halfe aslepe, and herde the noyse and woke. 1603Harsnet Popish Impost. 196 This exam[inant] confesseth, that diuers of them were such toyes, as came into her head being woken. 1669P. Henry Diaries & Lett. (1882) 214 About two or three o'clock in y⊇ morning hee wake. 1833J. H. Newman Let. 23 Jan. (1891) I. 334, I..have almost ever since woke at that hour and fancied it morning. 1869Thirlwall Rem. (1878) III. 400 He woke, we trust, from that ghastly nightmare to find himself in the light of a Father's countenance. 1901Rider Haggard Lysbeth xxv. 404 He had woken in the night and seen it standing at his bedside.
βc1275Lay. 28082 Þo gan ich to wakie [c 1205 iwakien]. a1300K. Horn 444 Rymenhild..Wakede of hire swoȝning. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 3 Þenne wakede I of my wink. 1560Rolland Seven Sages 54 This gud hound rais, and of his sleip did walk. 1565Stapleton tr. Bede's Hist. Ch. Eng. 158 When I waked, as it were oute of a greate slumber. 1611Chapman May-day v. 76 Imagining when shee wak't shee had something to say to me. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 202, I wak'd with this Thought. 1787Burns ‘Again rejoicing Nature’ iii, A dream of ane that never wauks. 1860Geo. Eliot in Cross Life (1885) II. 232, I waked to find the six horses resolutely refusing..to move the diligence. 1919J. D. Beresford Jervaise Comedy xv. 268, I came down from my clouds with..a sense of waking from perfect dreams to the realisation of a hard, inimical world.
b. with up.
a1837Dickens Pickw. xxviii, ‘Oh, you've woke up at last, have you?’ said Sam. 1864G. W. Dasent Jest & Earnest (1873) II. 288 Next morning Bard woke up to find Haldor busy packing up his baggage.
β1533Gau Richt Vay (S.T.S.) 68 Thair sal mony vaik wp of thayme quhilk slepis in the ȝeird. 1535Coverdale Joel i. 5 Wake vp ye dronckardes, & wepe. 1850Susan Warner Wide World xxii, Ellen barely waked up to feel herself lifted from the floor. 1879Leisure Hour 742/1 He had been asleep and had waked up. 1901F. Harrison Autob. Mem. (1911) II. 203 Ah! when the dream is over—and I wake up to find myself an average magazine writer.
c. transf. and fig., esp. of inanimate things. Of persons (usually with up): To become animated, alert, or lively, to throw off lethargy.
It may be noted here that the only recorded sense of OE. wæcnan is ‘to come into being, be born’.
αa1814Gonzanga i. ii. in New Brit. Theat. III. 104 The sleeping zephyrs woke to fan her bosom. 1844S. Wilberforce Hist. Prot. Episc. Ch. Amer. (1846) 46 Whenever this [sc. conscience] awoke, the struggle followed between him in whom it woke, and those who sought to keep it sleeping. 1859FitzGerald Omar viii, A thousand Blossoms with the Day Woke. 1898Daily News 22 Oct. 2/1 Even little Tasmania has woken up.
β1523Ld. Berners Froiss. (1812) I. cccxlviii. 556 Johan Lyon was well aduertysed of all these matters: than he began a lytell to wake. 1535Coverdale Isa. li. 9 Wake vp, wake vp, & be stronge: O thou arme of the Lorde. 1646Crashaw Steps to Temple 43 Newly they Peep't from their buds, shew'd like the Gardens eyes Scarce wak't. 1849M. Arnold In utrumque paratus ii, O waking on a world which thus-wise springs! Whether it needs thee count Betwixt thy waking and the birth of things Ages or hours: O waking on Life's stream! 1905R. Bagot Passport xvii. 153 The landscape..waking up to a new day.
d. to wake to: to become conscious or aware of; to become ‘alive’ to. Cf. awake v. 3.
α1836Lytton Athens (1837) II. 129 When the Greeks first woke to the certainty, that the vast preparations of Xerxes menaced Greece as the earliest victim. 1862J. F. Stephen Ess. Barrister 108 The great standing controversies which have exercised the intellect of mankind ever since it first woke to consciousness of its powers. 1863S. Wilberforce Ess. (1874) I. 312 The Church..had woke up to the sense of her true position.
β1895W. R. W. Stephens Life & Lett. E. A. Freeman I. 120 Men's minds, however, had at last waked to the fact that Greece and Rome did not exhaust the world's stock of wisdom and greatness.
e. fig. Of things, conditions, etc.: To be stirred up or aroused; to be put in motion or action. Also with up.
α1513Douglas æneis ii. i. 9 The voce thus wise throw out the ciete woik. 1863S. Wilberforce Ess. (1874) I. 325 The troubles in his diocese which woke up under the subsequent development of ritualistic fervour. 1864Ibid. 363 The loud clamour woke up that he was treacherously [etc.].
βa1450Myrc Par. Pr. 1542 Leste for þe penaunce sake Wo & wraþþe by-twene hem wake. 1667Milton P.L. x. 94 Gentle Aires due at thir hour To fan the Earth now wak'd. 1807Wordsw. Ode, Intim. Immortality 159 Truths that wake, To perish never. 1820Keats Eve St. Agnes xxviii, Porphyro..listen'd to her breathing, if it chanced To wake into a slumberous tenderness. 1885Mrs. Alexander At Bay viii, You are looking better, as if some life was waking up within you.
III. Causative uses.
8. a. trans. To rouse from sleep or unconsciousness. Also with up. Cf. awake v. 5.
αc1400Love Bonavent. Mirr. xl. (1908) 221 After this prayer oure lorde Jesu tornede aȝeyn to his disciples, and woke ham. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. (1812) I. ccclxx. 608 Whan the englysshmen parceyued howe they of Nantes woke them so often, than they tooke counsayle to kepe better watche. 1763[H. Kelly] Babler (1767) I. 126 My woman woke me in the morning with the following letter. 1778Susan Burney in Fr. Burney's Early Diary (1889) II. 238 This morning..I was woke by a noise in the next room. 1822Milman Belshazzar 83 Sleep that shall be sweetly broken When the God his bride hath woken. 1882‘Ouida’ In Maremma I. ii. 40 She was woke by neighbours' voices. 1915Blackw. Mag. May 608/1, I was woken up to take a message.
βa1300Cursor M. 7990 Þou slepes dauid, now I þe wak. c1369Chaucer Bk. Duchesse 294, I was waked With smale foules a grete hepe That had affrayed me out of my slepe. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 92 Þe disciplis comen and wakiden him. c1450Mirk's Festial 290 Þan wakud God Adam, and sette þe womman before hym. 1535Coverdale Luke viii. 24 Then wente they vnto him, and waked him vp. 1560Maitl. Club Misc. III. 227 Sche rais beand walked be Margaret. 1599Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 361 She hath often dreamt of vnhappinesse, and wakt her selfe with laughing. 1715Watts Div. Songs, Sluggard 2 You have wak'd me too soon, I must slumber again. 1759Goldsm. Bee No. 1. 15 Every morning waked him to a renewal of famine or toil. 1856C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain i. viii, It's enough to startle any one to be waked up with such a noise. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xvi. 107, I had not the heart to wake him.
b. transf. and fig. in obvious uses. Also, to disturb (silence), make (a place) re-echo with noise.
α1848Thackeray Van. Fair v, Shrill cries..woke up his pleasant reverie. 1855M. Pattison in Oxford Ess. 308 The system that woke us to life. 1864Kingsley Rom. & Teut. 120 What woke him from his dream? The cry of his starving people. 1919Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Nov. 627/2 Far from falling asleep over her pages..we feel that we have been completely woken up and set gossiping.
β1593Shakes. Rich. II, i. iii. 132 To wake our peace, which in our Countries cradle Drawes the sweet infant breath of gentle sleepe. 1742Young Nt. Th. i. 437 The sprightly lark's shrill Mattin wakes the Morn. 1810Scott Lady of L. iii. xxvi, No murmur waked the solemn still. 1853Dickens Bleak Ho. xxxix, The [law-]suit does not sleep; we wake it up, we air it, we walk it about. 1854Patmore Angel in Ho., Betrothal 146 No wind waked the wood. 1912Macalister Hist. & Civiliz. Palestine iii. 31 Those great civilizations of Crete and the Aegean, that have slumbered forgotten till waked to life again in our own days.
c. to wake snakes (U.S. slang): ‘To cause trouble or disturbance’ (Thornton): see also snake n. 2 d.
1848Lowell Biglow P. i. ii. 104 An' ef it worn't fer wakin' snakes, I'd home agin short meter. 1872Punch 20 Jan. 25/2 The archbishops of the Roman obedience appear to be waking snakes.
9. a. To rouse to action, activity, alertness, or liveliness. Const. to, into. Also with up.
α1851E. FitzGerald Euphranor 66 Clearly as the trumpet that woke the Greeks to battle.
β1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ii. xix. (1495) 46 The fende taketh a body of the ayre, that the lyf of men be haunted and wakid to besynesse by his dooynge. 1430–40Lydg. Bochas iii. xxvi. (1554) 97 Cyrus than, furious as Lion, His aduersaries gan mortally to wake. 1535Coverdale Joel iii. 9 Proclame warre, wake vp the giauntes, let them drawe nye. 1605Shakes. Macb. iii. vi. 31 Thither Macduffe Is gone, to pray the Holy King, vpon his ayd To wake Northumberland, and warlike Seyward. 1750Gray Elegy 48 Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd, Or wak'd to extasy the living lyre. 1884H. Cholmondeley-Pennell From Grave to Gay 85 As when waked to sudden speed Darts from the throng the flying steed. 1901R. Garnett Ess. iii. 72 The highest criticism is..unoriginal in this, that it must be waked into activity by another mind. 1901W. R. H. Trowbridge Lett. her Mother to Eliz. xxiii. 111 We are so terribly dull, and anything will serve to wake us up a bit.
b. to wake (up) to: to arouse to the consciousness or enjoyment of. Cf. 7 d.
1868–70Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 234 He felt as one who, waked up suddenly To life's delight, knows not of grief or care.
10. To bring into being, raise, stir up (war, strife, woe, etc.); to arouse, excite (an activity, feeling, emotion); to evoke (a sound, echo, etc.). Also with up.
α1793Minstrel III. 136 A voice whose well known tunings thrilled through my soul, and woke every dormant passion. 1798Southey Lett. (1856) I. 59 Your account of poor B. woke in me the recollections, and almost the feelings, of old friendship. 1862S. Wilberforce Ess. (1874) I. 205 The controversy, which the publication of ‘Essays and Reviews’ woke up. 1879Green Read. Eng. Hist. i. viii. 34 This woke rivalry and dissension among the other nobles. 1903W. A. Ellis Glasenapp's Life Wagner III. 67 [It] has woken an ambition in me.
βc1250Gen. & Ex. 360 Ðu haues ðe sorȝes sigðhe waked. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 8294 [The Britons] þretten Hengist to wake hys wough. c140026 Pol. Poems xvi. 29 He is a fool, þat werre wole wake, Þat may not maynten it wiþ mede. 1604Shakes. Oth. i. iii. 30 To wake and wage a danger profitlesse. 1655tr. Com. Hist. Francion i. 10 This waked the Curates curiosity to descend. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 739 Meanwhile the hour of Noon drew on, and wak'd An eager appetite, rais'd by the smell So savorie of that Fruit. 1741–2Gray Agrippina 103 And a call, Like mine, might serve belike to wake pretensions Drowsier than theirs. 1808Scott Marm. vi. vi, But far more needful was his care, When sense return'd to wake despair. 1889Jessopp Coming of Friars iii. 164 In every melody that wakes the echoes. 1896McClure's Mag. VI. 423/1 Never a creak did I wake out of that staircase till I was almost at the first landing.
Hence ˈwaked ppl. a.
1581A. Hall Iliad ix. 165 They keepe the watche, they stand with waked sprites. 1604Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 363 Thou had'st bin better haue bin borne a Dog Then answer my wak'd wrath. 16..? Chapman Revenge for Honour iii. i. (1659) 34 And on this vicious Prince like a fierce Sea-breach my just wak'd rage shall riot. 1646Browne Pseud. Ep. i. x. 40 The discovery of things to come, in sleepe above the prescience of our waked senses.
▸ slang (orig. U.S.). to wake up and smell the coffee (also decaf, etc.): to be realistic or aware; to abandon a naive or foolish notion. Freq. in imper.
Popularized by the U.S. syndicated advice columnist ‘Ann Landers’ (1918–2002, b. Esther Pauline Friedman).
1943Chicago Daily Tribune 18 Jan. 17/2 A few years back, when a wife told her husband to ‘wake up and smell the coffee’, it usually was said in utter derision. Now, when there is coffee to smell, she shouts it to him in supreme delight 1955‘A. Landers’ in Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern 21 Dec. 23/2 Wake up and smell the coffee. Do you want a wife who smokes, drinks, likes taverns and slaps you around? 1981N.Y. Times 15 Nov. ii. 17/4 Joffrey and Arpino are theatrical as well as dance people... I'd been wrapped on up on line and whether your arabesque was high enough for so many years. They made me wake up and smell the coffee. 1995D. Marc Bonfire of Humanities 118 Wake up and smell the decaf, folks. 2001Nation 2 July 21/1 State and local organizing is where the future is for our movement—it's time to wake up and smell the coffee.
▪ VI. wake
variant of wacke Geol.
▪ VII. wake
see vake v., walk v.2, weak a. |