wide awake

• wide-awake

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wide awake (comparative more wide awake, superlative most wide awake)

1. (idiomatic) Awake and very alert; vigilant, watchful.
   • 1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia:

     "They are almost awake, not quite," said Lucy. She knew she herself was wide awake, wider than anyone usually is.

   • 1972, Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 49:

     Why is marking a book indispensable to reading it? First, it keeps you awake—not merely conscious, but wide awake.

   • 1978, Richard Nixon, “The Presidency 1973–1974”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon‎^[1], Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 1085:

     I woke with a start. With the blackout curtains closed I didn't know what time it was. I looked at my watch. It said four o'clock. I had been asleep for only two hours, but I was wide awake.

   • 2025, “Bedlam”, in Hymns in Dissonance, performed by Whitechapel, United States:

     I am the teeth that grinds at your bones / As you lie there a failure with your will so weak / I am the ache you feel in your tomb / As you lay in your body still wide awake

2. (figurative) Keyed in or aware of things; not oblivious; woke.
   • 1984 April 21, “Classified advertisement”, in Gay Community News, page 19:

     LF 37, F 33, working class backgrounds, left-ish politics, seek wide-awake F 30+ to share friendly, indep apt.

• broad awake

• fast asleep

• wideawake
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