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wake
wake up with the chickens
To wake up at a particularly early hour, especially at or before sunrise (i.e., the time when chickens wake). No, thank you, I won't have another drink. I have to wake up with the chickens tomorrow. Ma wakes up with the chickens every day to prepare breakfast for the farmhands.
stop and smell the roses
To become calm and reflect upon the finer or more enjoyable aspects of life, especially when one has become overworked or overly stressed. You can't keep working these 80 hour workweeks, John! You have to stop and smell the roses, or else what is all that work even for?
wake up on the wrong side of (the) bed
To be in a particularly and persistently irritable, unhappy, or grouchy mood or state, especially when it is not in line with one's normal disposition. I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier, I think I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. Jeez, the boss has been in a really bad mood all day. I guess he must have woken up on the wrong side of bed!
wake-up call
1. A phone call that one schedules to be placed to one's hotel room in order to be woken up at a certain time. I set an alarm and scheduled a wake-up call so there's no way I oversleep for the first conference session tomorrow.
2. An event that triggers a sense of urgency or the motiviation to make a change. Primarily heard in US, Australia. Harold's sudden chest pain was the wake-up call he needed to finally see his doctor. That terrible car accident was just the wake-up call I needed to quit my boring office job and start acting again.
get up on the wrong side of bed
and get out of the wrong side of bedFig. to seem grouchy on a particular day. Did you get out of the wrong side of bed this morning? You are a real grouch.
in the wake of something
Fig. after something; as a result of some event. (Alludes to a ship's wake.) We had no place to live in the wake of the fire. In the wake of the storm, there were many broken tree limbs.
wake (someone or an animal) up
to cause someone or an animal to awaken. Please don't wake me up until noon. Wake up your brother at noon.
wake someone (up) from something
to awaken someone from something, such as a sound sleep, a nap, dreams, etc. Henry woke Fred up from his dreams. He woke up Fred from a deep sleep.
wake someone up (to something)
to cause someone to become alert and pay attention. (Does not refer to someone actually asleep.) We tried to wake them up to the dangers. Try to wake up the students to their responsibilities.
wake the dead
Fig. to be so loud as to wake those who are "sleeping" the most soundly: the dead. You are making enough noise to wake the dead. Stop hollering! You'll wake the dead!
wake up
to awaken; to become alert. Wake up! We have to get on the road. It's time to wake up!
wake up and smell the coffee
Prov. Try to pay attention to what's going on. Things have changed around here, Wallace J. Hodder! Wake up and smell the coffee!
wake (up) from something
to awaken from something, such as a sound sleep, sleep, dreams, etc. She woke up from a deep sleep. Elaine woke from her dreams with a start.
wake (up) to something
and waken to somethingto awaken and face something, such as a problem, sunlight, music, noise, etc. I love to wake up to soft music. We woke to the smell of freshly brewed coffee.
wake up and smell the coffee
to pay attention and do something about a situation Some parents just deny their kids are having problems, and they'd better wake up and smell the coffee.
get up on the wrong side of (the) bed
also wake up on the wrong side of (the) bed to begin the day feeling unhappy and uncomfortable I got up on the wrong side of bed yesterday, and everything that could go wrong did!
Related vocabulary: out of sortsin the wake of something
following or as a result of something The airport lowered parking rates in the wake of many complaints from drivers who felt the rates were far too high.
wake up to something
to become aware of something important I wish Dad would wake up to the fact that the car is about to fall apart.
Wake up and smell the coffee!
something that you say in order to tell someone that they should try to understand the true facts of a situation or that they should give more attention to what is happening around them It's time you woke up and smelled the coffee, Don. We're just not getting enough business any more.
a wake-up call
(American & Australian) an event that warns someone that they need to deal with an urgent or dangerous problem (often + to do sth) The 1971 earthquake was a wake-up call to strengthen the city's bridges. (often + to ) The World Trade Center bombing has served as a wake-up call to the FBI on terrorism.
get up on the wrong side of bed
Be in a grouchy, irritable state, as in What's got into Max today? Did he get up on the wrong side of bed? This expression alludes to the ancient superstition that it was bad luck to put one's left foot down first, and was so used in a number of 17th-century plays. By the early 1800s it was associated more with ill humor than misfortune.
in the wake of
1. Following directly on, as in In the wake of the procession, a number of small children came skipping down the aisle. This usage alludes to the waves made behind a passing vessel. [c. 1800]
2. In the aftermath of, as a consequence of, as in Famine often comes in the wake of war. [Mid-1800s]
to wake the dead, loud enough
Very loud, as in That band is loud enough to wake the dead. This hyperbolic expression dates from the mid-1800s.
wake-up call
A portentous event, report, or situation that brings an issue to immediate attention. For example, The rise in unemployment has given a wake-up call to state governments, or The success of the online subscription is a wake-up call to publishers. This metaphoric term originated in the second half of the 1900s for a telephone call arranged in advance to awaken a sleeper, especially in a hotel. Its figurative use dates from about 1990.
wake up
v.1. To rouse someone or something from sleep; awaken someone or something: Be quiet, or you will wake up the baby. The alarm woke me up.
2. To become awake; waken: I plan to wake up early tomorrow.
3. To make someone alert or cognizant: The coffee woke me up. The shocking revelations finally woke up the citizens.
4. wake up to To become alert or cognizant of something: We suddenly woke up to the fact that the family business was failing.
in the wake of
1. Following directly on.
2. In the aftermath of; as a consequence of.