Definition of wake

• n. - The track left by a vessel in the water; by extension, any track; as, the wake of an army.
• v. i. - To be or to continue awake; to watch; not to sleep.
• v. i. - To sit up late festive purposes; to hold a night revel.
• v. i. - To be excited or roused from sleep; to awake; to be awakened; to cease to sleep; -- often with up.
• v. i. - To be exited or roused up; to be stirred up from a dormant, torpid, or inactive state; to be active.
• v. t. - To rouse from sleep; to awake.
• v. t. - To put in motion or action; to arouse; to excite.
• v. t. - To bring to life again, as if from the sleep of death; to reanimate; to revive.
• v. t. - To watch, or sit up with, at night, as a dead body.
• n. - The act of waking, or being awaked; also, the state of being awake.
• n. - The state of forbearing sleep, especially for solemn or festive purposes; a vigil.
• n. - 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.
• n. - The sitting up of persons with a dead body, often attended with a degree of festivity, chiefly among the Irish.