wake-upadj.n.
/ˈweɪkʌp/, U.S. /ˈweɪkˌəp/ A. adj.
† wake-up kittle: probably the Pacific kittiwake. Obsolete.
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the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Laridae (gulls and terns) > [noun] > member of genus Larus (gull) > larus tridactylus (kittiwake)
kittiwake1661
tarrock1674
petrel1770
haglet1803
kitty1806
tickle-ace1819
wake-up kittle1832
mackerel bird1879
1832 B. Morrell Narr. Four Voy. iii. 216 Whale-birds, wake-up-kittles, man-of-war birds, gulls, and tropic-birds.
B. n.
1. = pigeon woodpecker n. at pigeon n. Compounds 2b.
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the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Piciformes > [noun] > family Picidae > genus Colaptes (flicker) > colaptes auratus (golden-wing)
goldenwing1785
high-hole1808
high-holder1813
yellow-shafted woodpecker1822
yellowhammer1826
pigeon woodpecker1844
wake-up1844
yellow-shafted flicker1855
1844 J. E. De Kay Zool. N.-Y. ii. 192 This species..is called Highhole, Yucker, Flicker, Wake-up and Pigeon Woodpecker..in this State.
1866 Game Laws Conn. in Fur, Fin & Feather (1872) 31 No person shall wilfully shoot..the wake-up or high hole.
1897 Scribner's Mag. June 773/2 The flicker has a long array of names,..like flicker, clape, wake-up,..derived from his notes.
2. [perhaps originally belonging to awake adj.] to be a (full) wake-up (also, of several persons, to be wake-ups): to be alert or wide awake (literal and figurative). Often const. to. Australian and New Zealand slang.
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the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > state of being awake > be or remain awake [verb (intransitive)] > or alert
to have one's eyeteeth (about one)1713
to be a (full) wake-up1930
1930 Bulletin (Sydney) 16 Apr. 58/2 ‘Cripes, you're a full wake-up to that at last, are you?’ Snow exclaimed.
1934 W. S. Howard You're telling Me! i. 12 Well, I'm awake-up; they don't get nothing out of me!]
1943 F. Sargeson in Penguin New Writing 18 68 Now I was a wake-up to what was in Maggie's mind.
1943 F. Sargeson in Penguin New Writing 18 69 The pair of us were wake-ups when we heard somebody coming up the stairs.
1946 M. Trist in Hadgraft & Wilson Century of Austral. Short Stories (1963) 214 ‘Don't you think we ought to have a cow?’.. ‘No, I'm a wake-up to cows’, said Dan. ‘Saw enough of them when I was a kid.’
1955 D. Niland Shiralee 19 A man should have hauled the cap off his head and chucked ninepence into it just to show him who was a wake-up to who.
1960 N. Hilliard Maori Girl iii. x. 248 I never knew till now! Well, I'm a wake-up!
1977 C. McCullough Thorn Birds ii. 46 When he saw the army lads were a wakeup he was off like a shot.
3. elliptical for wake-up pill above. slang.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > restoratives, tonics, or stimulants > [noun] > stimulant > pills
pep pill1917
amphetamine1955
purple heart1961
black bomber1963
black beauty1966
white1967
wake-up1969
wakey-wakey pill1977
wake-up pill1979
1969 in Howe & Loraine Environmental Med. (1973) xvii. 227 Wake-ups and stay-awakes.
1972 Sunday Sun (Brisbane) 2 July 14/3 He calls the pep-pills he swallows wake-ups, truck drivers, [etc.].
4. The act of waking a person from sleep, or of being woken from sleep.
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the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > state of being awake > [noun] > action, act, or state of waking or being wakened > specific waking or rousing > an act/instance of
cold pie1611
snuft1611
awakening1684
cold pig1870
shake1933
wake-up1975
1975 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 2 June 27/5 Out of that $609 she could easily hire someone to do all the dirty work, such as housekeeping, and leave the easy work such as cooking and wakeups to herself.
1977 M. Herr Dispatches (1978) 80 All of my stuff was..ready for the five-o'clock wake-up.
Compounds
wake-up call n.
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1976 P. Henissart Winter Quarry xxii. 219 He obtained his key from the night desk clerk and..left a wake-up call for eight a.m.
wake-up pill n.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > restoratives, tonics, or stimulants > [noun] > stimulant > pills
pep pill1917
amphetamine1955
purple heart1961
black bomber1963
black beauty1966
white1967
wake-up1969
wakey-wakey pill1977
wake-up pill1979
1979 Listener 30 Aug. 274/1 Her addiction to the sleeping pills and the wake-up pills had, on more than one occasion, led to an overdose.
wake-up service n.
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society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > telephone services
answering service1904
information1910
speaking clock1934
talking clock1936
TIM1936
telebus1942
wake-up service1946
subscriber trunk dialling1952
freephone1959
telephone hotline1961
WATS1962
call waiting1963
night line1970
phone-in1970
telephone helpline1970
help-line1980
line1983
Cellnet1984
chat line1984
Vodafone1984
telepoint1987
callback1992
1946 Birmingham (Alabama) News-age-herald 3 Feb. 9 a/3 Because his wakeup service requires that he arise early in the morning, Harvey has acquired the habit of remaining up all night.
1969 New Yorker 14 June 31/1 A number of young bachelors use us simply as a wake-up service—we're cheaper than Western Union.
Draft additions June 2016
wake-up call n. figurative an action or event that draws attention to a problem or concern; something that alerts people to an unsatisfactory situation and prompts them to acknowledge or remedy it.
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1977 Bucks County (Pa.) Courier Times 7 Feb. a/1 (headline) Taxpayers issue a wake-up call to government.
1980 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 21 Nov. (headline) Wake-up call for Ontario on western alienation.
1992 Men's Health Mar. 6/1 Last fall's news that Magic Johnson tested positive for the HIV virus was yet another shocking wake-up call to America.
2009 D. O'Briain Tickling Eng. vi. 82 The results were a wake-up call to cut down on my cholesterol and do some exercise.
2012 Independent 20 Mar. 18/1 How many wake-up calls do we need?..We have been warned..about the catastrophic consequences of climate change.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.1832