Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - wake

~1 v past tense woke, or waked AmE past participle woken or waked AmE also wake up to stop sleeping, or to make someone stop sleeping  (James usually wakes up early. | I'll wake you up when it's time to leave. | Try not to wake the baby.) wake up phr v 1 to start to listen or pay attention to something  (Wake up! (=give me your attention))  (Wake up at the back there!) 2 wake up and smell the coffee AmE spoken used to tell someone to recognize the truth or reality of something wake (up) to phr v 1 to experience something as you are waking up  (Nancy woke to the sound of birds outside her window.) 2 to start to realize and understand a danger, an idea etc  (It's time you woke up to the fact that it's a tough world out there.) ~2 n 1 in the wake of if something, especially something bad, happens in the wake of an event, it happens afterwards and usually as a result of it  (Famine followed in the wake of the drought.) 2 in sb's/sth's wake behind or after someone or something  (The car left clouds of dust in its wake.) 3 the time before a funeral when friends and relatives meet to remember the dead person 4 the track made behind a boat as it moves through the water