waker

From Middle English wakyr, from Old English wacor, waccor (“watchful, vigilant”), from Proto-West Germanic *wakr, from Proto-Germanic *wakraz (“awake, watchful”), equivalent to wake +‎ -er.

Cognate with Scots wakir (“watchful”), Dutch wakker (“awake”), German wacker (“awake, alert, capable, brave”), Swedish vacker (“wakeful, watchful, fair, comely”). Also precisely cognate with Sanskrit वज्र (vájra, “adamantine”), both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wóǵ-ros (“strong, lively”), and therefore a doublet of vajra. Further related through the same Indo-European root to vigil, vigor, and vegetable.

waker (comparative more waker, superlative most waker)

1. (now chiefly UK dialectal) Watchful; vigilant; alert.

From Middle English wakere, equivalent to wake +‎ -er. Compare West Frisian wekker (“alarm clock”, literally “waker”), Dutch wekker, German Wecker.

waker (plural wakers)

1. One who wakens or arouses from sleep.

   an early waker

2. One who wakes somebody or something.
3. (programming) In the Rust programming language, a handle that "wakes up" a task by notifying its executor that it is ready to be run.

• waker-upper

• kewra, wrake, wreak