wake-robin, name for several plants, particularly trillium.

wake, watch kept over a dead body, usually during the night preceding burial. Ancient peoples in various parts of the world observed the custom. As an ancient ritual, it was rooted in a concern that no person should be buried alive. After it was adopted by Christians and as it is practiced today, the wake serves the primary purpose of allowing friends and relatives of the deceased an opportunity to adjust collectively to the changed conditions. Typically there are traditional songs and laments. Prayers for the deceased and eating and drinking by the assembled mourners are features of the wake. Wakes may vary from part of one night to three nights in length. See funeral customs.

Wake Island, atoll with three islets (Wake, Wilkes, and Peale), 3 sq mi (7.8 sq km), central Pacific, between Hawaii and Guam. It is a U.S. military base and scientific research center under the jurisdiction of the Dept. of the Interior and the U.S. Air Force. There is no indigenous population. Wake Island was discovered by the Spanish in 1568, visited by the British in 1796 and named after Capt. William Wake, and annexed by the United States in 1898. The island became (1935) a commercial air base on the route to Asia and later served as a U.S. military base. In Dec., 1941, Wake Island was seized by the Japanese. U.S. forces bombed the island from 1942 until Japan's surrender in 1945. The atoll is also claimed by the Marshall Islands.

Wake Forest University, at Winston-Salem, N.C.; Southern Baptist; coeducational; chartered 1833, opened 1834 at Wake Forest, moved 1956. The school achieved university status in 1967. It has an undergraduate liberal arts college as well as schools of business administration, law, medicine, and graduate studies.

Hereward the Wake, fl. 1070, Anglo-Saxon rebel against William I. A thane, he apparently held land in Lincolnshire. In 1070 he sacked Peterborough with the aid of a Danish fleet and then consolidated his forces on the Isle of Ely. After William captured (1071) the island, Hereward seems to have continued resistance as an outlaw. It is said that he was later pardoned by William. He became a folk hero to the conquered Anglo-Saxons.

Atoll, central Pacific Ocean. An unincorporated territory of the U.S., Wake Island comprises three low-lying coral islets (Wilkes, Peale, and Wake) that surround a lagoon and occupy a total land area of 2.5 sq mi (6.5 sq km). The atoll was claimed by the U.S. in 1899. In 1935 it became a stopover for transpacific commercial flights. The U.S. Navy began construction of an air and submarine base in 1939, which was half-completed when Wake was attacked and occupied by Japanese forces in December 1941. After the Japanese surrendered (1945), Wake was administered by the U.S. Air Force. Commercial flights resumed, but by 1974 Wake was being used as an emergency stopover. It is also the site of weather research stations. There is no indigenous population on the island, but there is a small contingent of civilian workers.

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