[f. A- pref. 11 + ROUSE, after such pairs as rise, arise, wake, awake.]
1. To raise or stir up (a person) from sleep or inactivity; to awaken.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. i. 3. Loud houling Wolues arouse the Jades That dragge the Tragicke melancholy night.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, X. 36. Grasping his spear, forth issu’d to arouse His brother.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 11. 80. [I] fell asleep. My friend, however, soon aroused me.
2. To stir up into activity, excite (principles of action, emotions, etc.).
[1602. Shaks., Ham., II. ii. 510. A roused Vengeance sets him new a-worke.]
1728. Thomson, Spring, 1002. But absent, what fantastick woes arous’d Rage in each thought.
1859. Merivale, Rom. Emp., xlv. V. 225. No suspicion was aroused.
1863. Kemble, Resid. Georgia, 20. It arouses the killing propensity in me.
3. intr. (for refl.) To wake up, bestir oneself.
1822. W. Havergal, in Life (1882), 33. The parish began to arouse and visitors to inquire.
