v. Pa. t. and pa. pple. wakened. Forms: 1 wæcnan, wæcnian, 3 waken-en, -in, Orm. waccn-enn, 3–4, 6 Sc. wakne, 3–5 wakin, wakken, wacken, 4 wakan, wakkin, Sc. vakyn, 4–5 wakyn, -on, wackyn, -on, Sc. valkyn, 4–6 Sc. walkyn, 5 waykyn, wokyn (?), 5–6 Sc. walkin, 6 Sc. walkne, valkin, 6–7 Sc. walken, waikin, 8–9 Sc. wauken, dial. wacken, wakken, 3– waken. [OE. wæcnan (also -wæcnian, ? once wacnian) ON. vakna (Norw., Sw. vakna, Da. vaagne), Goth. ga-waknan (found only in pr. pple.), f. root *wak- (see WAKE v.) + -n- suffix of inchoative verbs of state.
The suffix in Teut. verbs of this class was originally confined to the present stem; cf. Goth. fraíhnan, frah, frēhum, also keinan, pa. pple. kijans. The original conjugation in OE. may have been wæcnan, wóc, wócen, *wacen, but the conjugation of wæcnan as a regular weak verb goes back to the earliest known period of the language; in ON. vakna is weak, the strong pa. t. being wanting.]
I. Intransitive senses.
1. To cease to sleep; to become awake. Const. † of (obs.), from, out of (sleep, etc.), to (a state of things, etc.). Also with up. Cf. WAKE v. 7.
c. 1300. Havelok, 2164. So þat he bigan to wakne, And wit hem ful sore to blakne.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, VII. 210. He valknyt, and rais all desaly.
c. 1400. Melayne, 133. When Charls wakenede of his dreme.
c. 1420. Wyntoun, Cron., IV. 1167. Þan þe Romanys suddandly wayknyt qwhar þai slepande lay.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxvii. 103. Quhairthrow I walknit of my trance.
1581. Rich, Farew. (Shaks. Soc.), 166. He bidde her goe againe, and shake her till she did waken.
1616. S. S., Honest Lawyer, IV. G 3. Whilst thou wakendst with the chimes, Because thou wentst to bed betimes.
c. 1618. Fletcher, Mad Lover, V. iv. Looke with the eyes of heaven that nightlie waken, To view the wonders of my glorious Maker.
1760. Impostors Detected, IV. vi. II. 211. At that very instant Don Vulpez wakened from his trance.
1787. Burns, ‘Again rejoicing Nature,’ vi. When the lark, ’tween light and dark, Blythe waukens by the daisy’s side.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxi. An he sleeps in this damp hole, he’ll maybe wauken nae mair.
1856. Miss Yonge, Daisy Chain, II. x. Etheldred’s dream was over. She had wakened to the inside of a Great Western carriage.
a. 1874. R. Buchanan, Dead Mother, 5. I waken’d up in the dead of night.
b. transf. and fig., of inanimate things, etc. † Of a condition, state of things: To come into existence, become manifest or active, be stirred up or aroused; also with up. Of wind: To begin to blow or rage. Cf. WAKE v. 7 c, e.
Beowulf, 85. Ne wæs hit lenge þa ʓen þæt se ecghete … æfter wælniðe wæcnan scolde.
c. 1200. Ormin, 12223. All þe flæshess fule lusst Waccneþþ þurrh gluterrnesse.
a. 1225. St. Marher, 11. Þu art walle of waisdom, ant euch wunne wakeneð ant waxeð of þe.
a. 1327. Pol. Songs (Camden), 152. Ther wakeneth in the world wondred ant wee.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., C. 132. Þay [sc. winds] wakened wel þe wroþeloker, for wroþely he cleped.
a. 1352. Minot, Poems, vi. 10. When all yowre wele es went Ȝowre wo wakkins ful wide.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2046. Now wackons vp werre as ye shall note after.
c. 1425. Seven Sag. (P.), 1803. Than bygan to wakken wo.
1597. Beard, Theatre God’s Judgem. (1612), 245. And so though vengeance slept a while, yet at length it wakened.
1634. Brereton, Trav. (Chetham Soc.), 4. It was then a great calm, about an hour, and afterwards the wind wakened.
1839. T. T. Stoddart, Songs & P., 21. O waken, winds, waken!
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, III. vii. We forget nothing. The memory sleeps, but wakens again.
1898. A. Austin, Lamia’s Winter Quarters, p. viii. When … the fig-tree cressets have flamed to green, And windflower wakened, and tulip blown.
c. Of a person: To become lively, animated or stirring; usually with up. Also, to become ‘alive’ to (a situation, etc.). Cf. WAKE v. 7 c.
1825. Jamieson, Wauken,… 2. To become animated…; as, ‘He wauken’t on his sermon.’
1891. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Sydney-side Sax., xii. The rider going pretty patient like myself, but beginning to waken up.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 27 Dec., 2/1. Mr. Collins is wakening to the necessity of a more refined type of Christmas entertainment.
† 2. To remain awake, refrain from sleeping, keep watch or vigil; to remain alive. Obs. rare.
1682. Bunyan, Holy War (1905), 430. And dost thou know why I … do still suffer Diabolonians to dwell in thy walls, O Mansoul? it is to keep thee wakening, to try thy love, to make thee watchful.
II. Transitive senses.
3. To rouse (a person or animal) from sleep or unconsciousness. Also with up. Const. † of (obs.), from, out of (sleep). Cf. WAKE v. 8.
c. 1200. Ormin, 5843, 5845. & o þe þridde daȝȝ itt [the lion’s whelp] iss Waccnedd off slæp & reȝȝsedd, Þurch þatt te faderr gaþ þærto & stireþþ itt & waccneþþ.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 14201. Þat i til him weind it es time for to wacken him of his suime.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, VI. 104. Than his twa men in hy send he To warne & walkyn his menȝe.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 681. [She] Waknet vp a wydow, þat hir with dwellit.
c. 1510. Douglas, K. Hart, I. 381. The Quene is walknit with ane felloun fray.
1601. Weever, Mirr. Mart., B iij b. At length, well wakened from that pleasing slumber.
1611. Bible, Zech. iv. 1. As a man that is wakened out of his sleepe.
1673. Vinegar & Mustard (1873), 23. The paltry cur wakened me last Sunday of a good nap.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxix. May ye a’ sleep till the hangman wauken ye.
1853. Mrs. Gaskell, Ruth, xxii. Her dream … was one of undefined terror … so great that it wakened her up.
1872. Tennyson, Gareth & Lynette, 1034. O Sun, that wakenest all to bliss or pain.
b. fig.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 767. Lord, where slepis þis gode lawe, and when schal hit be wakened?
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., III. vii. 124. Your sleepie thoughts, which here we waken to our Countries good.
1639. Mayne, City Match, I. v. Fresh as Pygmalions Mistresse newly wakened Out of her Alabaster.
1820. Shelley, Ode West Wind, 29. Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams The blue Mediterranean.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes, xi. A loud high-pressure blast; enough, one would think, to waken up the host of Indians who lie buried in a great mound yonder.
4. To rouse to activity, alertness or liveliness; to stir up, excite. Const. to, † into; to (do something). Also with up. Cf. WAKE v. 9.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3610. Þerfore wackon þi wille into wight dedis.
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet (Prose), xxii. 20. Man sal wakin þaim faire til godis seruise.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 166. The men that I led with me to wakyn ȝow to do me resoun.
1549. Compl. Scot., xi. 92. God almychty valknit vitht his grace the hartis of ȝour predecessours.
1577. St. Augustine’s Man., Pref. That when we bee shrunke away, we may bee wakened to run backe agayne to our true God.
1604. Jas. I., Counterbl., To Rdr. (Arb.), 97. It is the Kings part … to waken them vp againe, to be more diligent in their Offices.
1759. Johnson, Idler, No. 43, ¶ 3. It was therefore necessary that this universal reluctance should be counteracted, and the drowsiness of hesitation wakened into resolve.
1851. G. Brimley, Ess., Wordsw. (1858), 110. Where the vanity of social distinction … wakens the harp of the poet.
1877. R. H. Hutton, Ess. (ed. 2), I. Pref. 6. It has been the one purpose of all … divine revelation … to waken us up out of this perpetually recurring tendency to fall back into ourselves.
5. To summon into existence, raise, stir up (war, woe, wind, etc.); to kindle (fire, flame); to arouse, excite (an activity, emotion); to evoke (music, sound). Also with up. Cf. WAKE v. 10.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 8558. Now hauy take oure moste fo, Þat haþ vs wakned many wo!
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 323. For I schal waken vp a water to wasch alle þe worlde.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2274. Yff we wackon vp werre with weghes so fele.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., II. 460. Scho feired that he … suld in Scotland agane be the raiser of a newe bleise, and wakne vp a new flame.
a. 1616. Beaum. & Fl., Little Fr. Lawyer, V. ii. 16. Speake to that Lion Lord, waken his anger.
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 369. They introduce Thir sacred Song, and waken raptures high.
1786. Burns, Holy Fair, xix. It kindles Wit, it waukens Lear.
1838. Dickens, O. Twist, li. What a crowd of emotions were wakened up in his breast.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, I. Proem 16. The sunlight and shadows bring their old beauty and waken the old heart-strains at morning, noon, and even-tide.
6. Scots Law. To revive (a process) which, after calling a summons, has been allowed to ‘sleep’ for a year and a day.
1560. Maitl. Club Misc., III. 234. The cause … suscitate and newlie walkynnet.
1569. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 680. The mater being walkynnit of new, and all the partiis comperand personalie.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., Quoniam Attach., c. 55. And then the principall pley (betwix the persewer and the defender) sall be walkned.
1711. J. Spottiswoode, Forms of Process (1718), 20. In case Protestation has not been sought within Year and Day,… no Protestation can be granted, till the Advocation; which on that Account, is said to be sleeping, be wakened.
1790. Collect. Styles, III. 195.
1838. W. Bell, Dict. Law Scot., s.v. Wakening.
7. To watch, watch over, keep an eye upon. Sc.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., III. 12. This ilk Angus in Quhiterne than tuke girth, Quhair he wes walknit all tyme round about, That be no way that tyme he mycht wyn out.
1865. Tester, Poems, 156 (E.D.D.). On summer nichts, wauken the claes Wi’ maidens fair.
Hence Wakened, Wakening ppl. adjs.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., cxvii. 12. But shoote not at me in your wakened hate.
1635. D. Dickson, Hebr. xii. 24. 304. The wakened Conscience, lying in … feare of the offended Iudge.
1670. Milton, Hist. Eng., II. 95. He therefore with a wak’n’d spirit, to the extent of his Fortune dilating his mind.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, II. i. And the rich dale, that eastward lay, Waited the wakening touch of day.
1817. Moore, Lalla Rookh, Veiled Proph., I. 166. Ere Peace can visit them, or Truth let in Her wakening day-light on a world of sin!
1892. Meredith, Poems, Ode Comic Spirit, 71. Thou, soul of wakened heads, art armed to warn.
