'Wake play' definitions:

Definition of 'Wake play'

From: GCIDE
  • Wake \Wake\, n.
  • 1. The act of waking, or being awaked; also, the state of being awake. [Obs. or Poetic] [1913 Webster]
  • Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • Singing her flatteries to my morning wake. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. The state of forbearing sleep, especially for solemn or festive purposes; a vigil. [1913 Webster]
  • The warlike wakes continued all the night, And funeral games played at new returning light. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • The wood nymphs, decked with daises trim, Their merry wakes and pastimes keep. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Specifically: (a) (Ch. of Eng.) An annual parish festival formerly held in commemoration of the dedication of a church. Originally, prayers were said on the evening preceding, and hymns were sung during the night, in the church; subsequently, these vigils were discontinued, and the day itself, often with succeeding days, was occupied in rural pastimes and exercises, attended by eating and drinking, often to excess. [1913 Webster]
  • Great solemnities were made in all churches, and great fairs and wakes throughout all England. --Ld. Berners. [1913 Webster]
  • And every village smokes at wakes with lusty cheer. --Drayton. [1913 Webster] (b) The sitting up of persons with a dead body, often attended with a degree of festivity, chiefly among the Irish. "Blithe as shepherd at a wake." --Cowper. [1913 Webster]
  • Wake play, the ceremonies and pastimes connected with a wake. See Wake, n., 3 (b), above. [Obs.] --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]