[-ING1.] The action of the verb WAKE.
1. The action of remaining awake or of sitting up at night.
1340. Ayenb., 52. Efterward ine zuyche wakinges me deþ manye kueades, ase playe ate ches oþer ate tables.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man of Law’s Prol., 22. The tyme … steleth from vs, what pryuely slepynge And what thurgh necligence in oure wakynge.
1422. Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., 247. Myche wakynge makyth the body lene.
1477. Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 33. Of thought cometh the wakyngis and unrestis.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., III. iii. 19. Ne’re was dreame So like a waking.
1638. Ford, Fancies, III. iii. I am not So weary of th’authority I hold Over mine owne contents in sleepes and wakings.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., III. xxxii. 196. To say he hath seen a Vision … is to say, that he dreamed between sleeping and waking.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., I. xxxi. Days of danger, nights of waking.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, lxiv. Her eyes were … red with waking and crying.
b. spec. Keeping vigil as an act of devotion.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 69. Vre rihte leue, god, cume to þe þurh festing and þurh wacunge.
1340. Ayenb., 232. Him behoueþ wel wysliche his uless ouercome … be uestinges, be wakiinges and be benes.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Parson’s T., ¶ 1038. Bodily peyne … stant in preyeres, in wakynges, in fastynges.
c. 1400. Love, Bonavent. Mirr., xxvii. (1908), 141. He … doth his tendre body to penaunce, and waketh long wakynges.
c. 1460. Wisdom, 1030, in Macro Plays, 69. Lo, wakynge ys a holy thynge!
1710. Hilman, Tusser Rediv., June (1744), 81. Waking in the Church was left off because of some Abuses.
2. The action of watching, or keeping watch and ward; dial. a keeping watch or holding a ‘wake’ over a corpse.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 514/1. Wakynge, or wetche, vigilia.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxxviii. 357. Oure wakyng, lorde, withouten wene Is worthed to noȝt.
1529. Reg. Privy Seal Scot., 30. Exemand hir fra all walking, warding, and paying of stent within the burgh of Edinburgh or outwith.
1572. Inv. Ketshange (Somerset Ho.). For kepinge of her and wackinge of her iijd.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., I. i. Sang 1. Tune, The wawking of the faulds.
1823. ‘Jon Bee,’ Dict. Turf, s.v. Wake, In England the body is sometimes placed in a coffin; in Ireland, seldom so, the waking being usually called for the purpose of procuring one.
1891. Stevenson, In South Seas, IV. v. (1900), 311. Of home life we had but the one view: the waking of a corpse.
† b. One of the ‘watches’ or divisions of the night (L. vigilia). Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Matt. xiv. 25. In the fourthe wakyng of the niȝt [Vulg. quarta vigilia noctis].
c. 1400. Love, Bonavent. Mirr., xxvii. (1908), 143. At the ferthe wakynge of the nyȝt.
3. The action of becoming awake or conscious, of ceasing to sleep. Also with up.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 1. Ac after my wakyng it was wonder longe Ar I couth kyndely knowe what was dowel.
1530. Palsgr., 286/1. Wakyng after slepe, reueil.
1553. Bradford, Serm. Repent. (1574), G ij. In this his syn, though a great while he lay a sleepe (as many do nowe adayes, God geue them good waking).
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., IV. i. 116 (3rd Qo.). He and I Will watch thy waking.
1709. Addison, Tatler, No. 97. Their slumbers are sound, and their wakings chearful.
1860. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., III. 63. My own wakings, up some twenty or thirty times every night.
1864. G. A. Lawrence, Maurice Dering, II. 119. But, if Dering rested well, his waking was not so enviable.
4. The action of rousing (a person or animal) from sleep; † a night-attack. Also fig.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss. (1812), II. xlix. 168. To close in theyr felde, to lodge therin more at theyr ease, without waking or skries.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov., I. x. (1867), 24. It is euyll wakyng of a sleepyng dog.
1654. Sir A. Johnston (Ld. Wariston), Diary (S.H.S.), II. 238. I took this as a warning and waking and alarum from the Lord to me.
5. Comb.: † waking-silver, ? a payment in lieu of keeping watch and ward.
1390–1. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 597. Item Will’o Patonson pro Argent, sibi dato, et sociis suis pro Wakyng silvyr, vij s.
1546. Yorks. Chantry Surv. (Surtees), I. 172. To the Kynges Majestie for waykyng sylver payd … to Pontfret Castell.
