Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WAKE, n.

1. The feast of the dedication of the church, formerly kept by watching all night. – Dryden. King.
2. Vigils; state of forbearing sleep. Their merry wakes and pastimes keep. – Milton.
3. Act of waking. [Old song.] Wake of a ship, the track it leaves in the water, formed by the meeting of the water, which rushes from each side to fill the space which the ship makes in passing through it. To be in the wake of a ship, is to be in her track or in a line with her keel.