The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Wake \Wake\, n.
   1. The act of waking, or being awaked; also, the state of
      being awake. [Obs. or Poetic]
      [1913 Webster]

            Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep.
                                                  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            Singing her flatteries to my morning wake. --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The state of forbearing sleep, especially for solemn or
      festive purposes; a vigil.
      [1913 Webster]

            The warlike wakes continued all the night,
            And funeral games played at new returning light.
                                                  --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

            The wood nymphs, decked with daises trim,
            Their merry wakes and pastimes keep.  --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Specifically:
      (a) (Ch. of Eng.) 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.
          [1913 Webster]

                Great solemnities were made in all churches, and
                great fairs and wakes throughout all England.
                                                  --Ld. Berners.
          [1913 Webster]

                And every village smokes at wakes with lusty
                cheer.                            --Drayton.
          [1913 Webster]
      (b) The sitting up of persons with a dead body, often
          attended with a degree of festivity, chiefly among the
          Irish. "Blithe as shepherd at a wake." --Cowper.
          [1913 Webster]

   Wake play, the ceremonies and pastimes connected with a
      wake. See Wake, n., 3
      (b), above. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
          [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Wake \Wake\, n. [Originally, an open space of water s?rrounded
   by ice, and then, the passage cut through ice for a vessel,
   probably of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. v["o]k a hole, opening
   in ice, Sw. vak, Dan. vaage, perhaps akin to E. humid.]
   The track left by a vessel in the water; by extension, any
   track; as, the wake of an army.
   [1913 Webster]

         This effect followed immediately in the wake of his
         earliest exertions.                      --De Quincey.
   [1913 Webster]

         Several humbler persons . . . formed quite a procession
         in the dusty wake of his chariot wheels. --Thackeray.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Wake \Wake\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Wakedor Woke (?); p. pr. &
   vb. n. Waking.] [AS. wacan, wacian; akin to OFries. waka,
   OS. wak?n, D. waken, G. wachen, OHG. wahh?n, Icel. vaka, Sw.
   vaken, Dan. vaage, Goth. wakan, v. i., uswakjan, v. t., Skr.
   v[=a]jay to rouse, to impel. ????. Cf. Vigil, Wait, v.
   i., Watch, v. i.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. To be or to continue awake; to watch; not to sleep.
      [1913 Webster]

            The father waketh for the daughter.   --Ecclus.
                                                  xlii. 9.
      [1913 Webster]

            Though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps. --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

            I can not think any time, waking or sleeping,
            without being sensible of it.         --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To sit up late festive purposes; to hold a night revel.
      [1913 Webster]

            The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse,
            Keeps wassail, and the swaggering upspring reels.
                                                  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To be excited or roused from sleep; to awake; to be
      awakened; to cease to sleep; -- often with up.
      [1913 Webster]

            He infallibly woke up at the sound of the concluding
            doxology.                             --G. Eliot.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To be exited or roused up; to be stirred up from a
      dormant, torpid, or inactive state; to be active.
      [1913 Webster]

            Gentle airs due at their hour
            To fan the earth now waked.           --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

            Then wake, my soul, to high desires.  --Keble.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Wake \Wake\, v. t.
   1. To rouse from sleep; to awake.
      [1913 Webster]

            The angel . . . came again and waked me. --Zech. iv.
                                                  1.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To put in motion or action; to arouse; to excite. "I shall
      waken all this company." --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

            Lest fierce remembrance wake my sudden rage.
                                                  --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

            Even Richard's crusade woke little interest in his
            island realm.                         --J. R. Green.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To bring to life again, as if from the sleep of death; to
      reanimate; to revive.
      [1913 Webster]

            To second life
            Waked in the renovation of the just.  --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. To watch, or sit up with, at night, as a dead body.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

wake
    n 1: the consequences of an event (especially a catastrophic
         event); "the aftermath of war"; "in the wake of the
         accident no one knew how many had been injured" [syn:
         aftermath, wake, backwash]
    2: an island in the western Pacific between Guam and Hawaii
       [syn: Wake Island, Wake]
    3: the wave that spreads behind a boat as it moves forward; "the
       motorboat's wake capsized the canoe" [syn: wake,
       backwash]
    4: a vigil held over a corpse the night before burial; "there's
       no weeping at an Irish wake" [syn: wake, viewing]
    v 1: be awake, be alert, be there [ant: catch some Z's, kip,
         log Z's, sleep, slumber]
    2: stop sleeping; "She woke up to the sound of the alarm clock"
       [syn: wake up, awake, arouse, awaken, wake, come
       alive, waken] [ant: dope off, doze off, drift off,
       drop off, drowse off, fall asleep, flake out, nod
       off]
    3: arouse or excite feelings and passions; "The ostentatious way
       of living of the rich ignites the hatred of the poor"; "The
       refugees' fate stirred up compassion around the world"; "Wake
       old feelings of hatred" [syn: inflame, stir up, wake,
       ignite, heat, fire up]
    4: make aware of; "His words woke us to terrible facts of the
       situation"
    5: cause to become awake or conscious; "He was roused by the
       drunken men in the street"; "Please wake me at 6 AM." [syn:
       awaken, wake, waken, rouse, wake up, arouse]
       [ant: cause to sleep]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

143 Moby Thesaurus words for "wake":
   affair, afterclap, aftercrop, aftereffect, afterglow, aftergrowth,
   afterimage, aftermath, afterpart, afterpiece, aftertaste,
   alertness, all-night vigil, annoy, arise, arouse, at home, awake,
   awaken, backwash, bestir, blow the coals, blow up, burial service,
   call forth, call up, challenge, come alive, condensation trail,
   consciousness, contrail, course, deathwatch, dirge, enkindle,
   enrage, eulogy, excite, exequies, exhaust, extreme unction, fan,
   fan the fire, fan the flame, feed the fire, fire, flame, foment,
   frenzy, freshen, funeral oration, funeral rites, gathering, get up,
   get-together, heat, impassion, incense, incite, inflame, infuriate,
   insomnia, insomniac, insomnolence, insomnolency, key up, kindle,
   knock up, last duty, last honors, last offices, last rites,
   lather up, levee, lidless vigil, light the fuse, light up, line,
   madden, matinee, move, obsequies, overexcite, path, piste, queue,
   rally, reception, renew, requiem, requiem mass, restlessness,
   reunion, roll out, rouse, salon, scent, sentience, set astir,
   set fire to, set on fire, shake up, signs, sleeplessness, sociable,
   social, social affair, social gathering, soiree, spoor, steam up,
   stir, stir the blood, stir the embers, stir the feelings, stir up,
   stream, summon up, tab, tag, tail, tailpiece, tossing and turning,
   traces, track, trail, trailer, train, turn on, vapor trail,
   viaticum, vigil, vortex, wake up, wakefulness, waken, warm,
   warm the blood, wash, whet, whip up, work into, work up



U.S. Gazetteer Counties (2000):

Wake -- U.S. County in North Carolina
   Population (2000):    627846
   Housing Units (2000): 258953
   Land area (2000):     831.923863 sq. miles (2154.672822 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    25.331901 sq. miles (65.609320 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    857.255764 sq. miles (2220.282142 sq. km)
   Located within:       North Carolina (NC), FIPS 37
   Location:             35.796512 N, 78.665751 W
   Headwords:
    Wake
    Wake, NC
    Wake County
    Wake County, NC