lyke-wake

/ ˈlaɪkˌweɪk /

noun

1. a watch held over a dead person, often with festivities

Word History and Origins

Origin of lyke-wake¹

C16: perhaps from Old Norse; see lych gate , wake ¹

Example Sentences

I'm not wild about their cheerful treatment of the once-chilling Lyke-Wake Dirge, but their unexpected reworking of the old Creedence favourite Bad Moon Rising captures the spirit of this adventurous set.

From The Guardian

He laid her softly against his breast, and wrapped his coat warmly about her, and so sat he the night through, and held true lyke-wake over his wife and his happiness.

From Project Gutenberg

He sat there all night long, keeping a true lyke-wake by his wife and his dead happiness.

From Project Gutenberg

The chorus sang A Lyke-Wake Dirge before, between and after the solos.

From Time Magazine Archive

As for the mere candles, if placed on a deal dresser or shop-counter, they might have failed to touch him; but if burning in some lyke-wake beside the dead, or in some vaulted crypt or lonely rock-cave, he also could not have looked other than poetically on them.

From Project Gutenberg