awake to (someone or something)

1. To become aware of something. You need to awake to the serious problems plaguing our country. Awake to reality, class, it's time to talk about the periodic table. He will never awake to his mother's failing health if he's 3,000 miles away from her.

2. To be roused from one's sleep, due to a noise or other stimulus. This morning, I awoke to the sound of my neighbor's barking dog. While staying on the farm, I awoke to the sound of a rooster for the first time in my life. A: "What's it like to awake to the sound of a crying baby in the middle of the night?" B: "Delightful, what do you think?"

awake(n) from (something)

To rouse from something (often sleep). Today, I was awoken from my sleep by my neighbor's barking dog. Awake from your daydreams, class, it's time to talk about the periodic table. While staying on the farm, I was awoken from my slumber by a rooster for the first time in my life.

See also:

References in classic literature

Then, with a smile, Lily-Bell awoke, and looked with wondering eyes upon the beauty that had risen round her.

View in context

This was a offence victim awoke his life was Det Con Johnson He awoke to see a stocky man in a black beanie hat, black jacket, joggers and dark trainers, pointing a handgun at his face from two feet away.

Man awoke to find robber pointing a handgun at his face

As mice awoke from anesthesia, potassium ion levels rose quickly.

Ions, not neurons, may oversee sleep: potassium spike in brain initiates eye-opening jolt, study finds

of the 180 children enrolled, technical failure prevented the collection of BIS data in five children, one child awoke and removed his own BIS sensor and there were six protocol violations (not within age range, significant neurological impairment or opioids were given).

Performance of BIS in children using the paediatric BIS Quattro sensor

In one bungle, a 35 year-old patient awoke during surgery at the Priory Hospital in Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Patients woke up during surgery

That's what happened to Graham Handley, who awoke to find a burly worker lying next to him instead of his wife.

POLISH workers

A 69-year-old woman reported that she experienced dizziness one morning as she awoke briefly and turned over.

Severe, disabling dizziness after intratympanic aminoglycoside treatment for dizziness

And in four of five controlled published studies, participants were more likely to report that at least one aspect of their sleep--such as how long it took to fall asleep or how often they awoke during the night--was better on the nights they took valerian than on the nights they took a (look-alike but valerian-flee) placebo.

Perchance to Dream

Shannon Hales was sleeping on the settee with her father at the family home in Taylor Road, Kings Heath, when he awoke to find her dead.

Open verdict on baby who died next to sleeping father

On her "good" nights, she awoke as frequently as every hour; on the worst ones she lay awake until breakfast.

When MS is Messing with Your Rest