wake

WAYK/weɪk/

Verbwakes, waking, woke, woken

Noun pluralwakes

12 meanings of wake

Practice

1
verbintransitive
To stop sleeping and become conscious and alert, or to make someone do this.
Soldiers in the field learn to wake at the slightest noise.
She woke suddenly when thunder shook the house.
UsageOften wake up, or wake someone up; the past is usually woke, the past participle woken.
Oppositesleep
Note
'I woke up at four' and the narrator of J. Meade Falkner's Moonfleet (1898), who 'woke at length, and found myself still in darkness', describe the same event.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
J. Meade Falkner wrote Moonfleet, first published in 1898. gutenberg.org
The quoted words occur in the narrator's account of waking from sleep. en.wikisource.org
2
space behindnounfigurativelycountable
The space just behind a fast-moving person or thing; hence, the aftermath or consequences of an event, especially in the phrase 'in the wake of'.
Critics followed in the politician's wake, eager for a quote.
A pack of photographers trailed in the singer's wake as she hurried through the airport.
UsageUsually in someone's wake, often after follow or trail: reporters followed in her wake.
Similartrail, track
Note
De Quincey wrote in 1826 of an effect that 'followed so immediately in the wake of his earliest exertions'. Oreskes and Conway's Merchants of Doubt (2010) speaks of hazards capitalism 'brought in its wake'.
3
nouncountable
The trail of disturbed water or air left behind a moving ship, boat, swimmer, animal, or aircraft.
Surfers sometimes ride the wake thrown up by passing boats.
The yacht's wake stretched far across the calm harbor.
UsageBoats leave or throw up a wake; smaller boats ride or cross it.
Similarwash, trail, backwash
4
nouncountable
A vigil kept beside the body of someone who has died, before burial, or a gathering held around the funeral to remember them.
The wake lasted well into the night, with neighbors trading memories.
After the funeral, the family hosted a wake at a local hall.
UsageYou hold, host, or go to a wake.
Similarvigil
Note
This is the noun partner of sitting up with the dead. A wake is held over the body, and the phrase appears even in legal language: Singapore's Infectious Diseases Act lets health officials 'prohibit the conduct of a wake over the body'. Whether the occasion is quiet watching or a lively party depends on the culture, not on the word.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
The funeral noun corresponds to the verb meaning to remain awake and keep watch with the dead. en.wikipedia.org
The quotation is accurate, but the statutory office is now the Director-General of Health; 'Director' reflects older wording. ampeid.org
5
verbfigurativelyintransitive
To come, or cause something to come, out of a dormant or inactive state into activity; to arouse a feeling or response.
Revolutionary feeling began to wake among the workers.
Her ambition woke after years of quiet routine.
Similarstir, awaken, arise, revive
6
noun
The condition of not being asleep, or the act of rousing from sleep.
Singing her flatteries to my morning wake.
1677, John Dryden, All for Love
Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep.
c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth,”
Note
Shakespeare sets 'wake and sleep' side by side, and Dryden writes of a 'morning wake'. The sense is mostly obsolete or poetic, but it has found a second life in sleep science. William H. Moorcroft's Understanding Sleep and Dreaming speaks of 'periods of sleep and wake'.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Shakespeare juxtaposes 'wake and sleep'; the words occur in Glendower's speech in Henry IV, Part 1. gutenberg.org
Dryden uses 'morning wake'; the words occur in Antony's speech in All for Love. gutenberg.org
Moorcroft's book contains the phrase 'periods of sleep and wake'. en.wiktionary.org

Less common meanings

7
watch the deadverbtransitive
To sit up through the night beside a dead body, keeping watch over it.
They waked the fallen soldier in the village hall until morning.
It was the custom to wake the dead before carrying them to the grave.
UsageIts past form is usually waked: they waked the soldier until morning.
Similarwatch
Note
The verb behind the funeral wake means keeping a dead person company through the night. Sir Walter Scott's Redgauntlet (1824) uses it in a Scots voice: 'naebody cared to wake Sir Robert Redgauntlet like another corpse'.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
The verb wake can mean keeping watch beside a dead body at night. en.wiktionary.org
Sir Walter Scott wrote Redgauntlet. gutenberg.org
Redgauntlet was first published in 1824. walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk
The quotation is exact and occurs in Wandering Willie's Scots narrative, rather than as Scott speaking personally. gutenberg.org
8
vulture groupnouncollectivecountable
A group of vultures that have gathered together.
A wake of vultures had already descended on the fallen buffalo.
From the ridge, they spotted a wake of vultures crowding a kill.
UsageMostly in a wake of vultures.
9
church festivalnounhistoricalcountable
A yearly parish festival once held to commemorate a church's dedication, marked by night vigils that later gave way to feasting and rural games.
The annual wake drew families from every farm in the parish.
And every village smokes at wakes with lusty cheer.
1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion
Similarfestival, feast, fair
Note
This is a historical Church of England term, often found in the plural beside fairs. Lord Berners's translation of Froissart (1523–1525) records church solemnities alongside fairs and wakes held throughout all England. Michael Drayton's Poly-Olbion (1622) has every village smoking 'at wakes with lusty cheer'. Use the word for the parish life of the past. Drayton, at least, saw the feasting more than the prayer.
10
verbobsolete
To sit up late into the night for festive purposes; to hold a night revel.
The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse, Keeps wassail, and the swaggering upspring reels.
c. 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”
Note
Shakespeare's Hamlet gives this sense its best-known line: 'The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse, Keeps wassail.' This is late drinking, not vigil. The sense is obsolete, and a modern reader can easily mistake it for solemn watching. The words around it (rouse, wassail, reels) show the revel. Its noun cousin is the festive wakes of the old parish festival.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
The quotation occurs in Shakespeare's Hamlet and is spoken by Hamlet. en.wikisource.org
The passage describes late-night drinking and revelry, as its surrounding words establish. gutenberg.org
Rouse, wassail, and reels occur in the surrounding passage. gutenberg.org
The festive verb sense is labelled obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
The noun wake has the parish-festival sense referenced by the cross-link. en.wiktionary.org
11
verbarchaic
To stay awake rather than sleep, especially in order to keep watch.
The father waketh for the daughter when no man knoweth, and the care for her taketh away sleepe;
1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version
12
nounarchaic
A period of staying awake, especially kept for solemn or festive purposes; a vigil.
The wood nymphs, deckt with daises trim, Their merry wakes and pastimes keep.
1634, [John Milton], A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of wake apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1, 5, 7, 10

Two Old English verbs that looked and meant much the same, wacan and wacian, became Middle English waken and wakien and then merged into one. Both trace back through Proto-West Germanic to Proto-Germanic roots.

Meanings 4, 6, 8–9

Proto-Germanic *wakō, a relative of the verb *wakjaną, gave Old English wacu, which became Middle English wake.

Meanings 2–3

This is probably a borrowing of wake from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch. That word comes from, or is akin to, vǫk, the Old Norse word for "a hole in the ice," which goes back to Proto-Germanic *wakwō ("wetness") and the Proto-Indo-European root *wegʷ-, meaning "wet, moist."