Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Language: Old English
Origin: wacan 'to wake up' and wacian 'to be awake'

wake

1 verb
     
wake1 S2 W3 also wake up past tense woke, past participle woken [intransitive and transitive]
to stop sleeping, or to make someone stop sleeping:
When she woke, the sun was streaming through the windows.
Try not to wake the baby.
wake to
Nancy woke to the sound of birds outside her window (=she heard birds singing when she woke).

wake up

phrasal verb
1 to stop sleeping, or to make someone stop sleeping:
James usually wakes up early.
wake somebody ↔ up
I'll wake you up when it's time to leave.
2 to start to listen or pay attention to something:
Wake up (=give me your attention) at the back there!
3

wake up and smell the coffee

American English spoken used to tell someone to recognize the truth or reality of a situation

wake up to something

phrasal verb
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.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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