Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus./N.Z.) an alert and resourceful person, always aware of the possibilities of a situation; thus to be a (full) wake-up(s), a wake-up to v.

1930		Bulletin (Sydney) 16 Apr. 58/2: ‘Cripes, you’re a full wake-up to that at last, are you?’ Snow exclaimed.
1940		Western Mail (Perth) 30 May 2/3: The Doc was a full wake-up.
1941		F. Sargeson ‘That Summer’ in Coll. Stories (1965) 182: Now I was a wake-up to what was in Maggie’s mind. [Ibid.] 194: I was suddenly a wake-up to what I’d let myself in for when I signed that statement.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 34: I’m a wake-up [...] you can’t fool Jimmy Brockett.
1960		J. Iggulden Storms of Summer 9: Wouldn’t ya reckon she’d have been a wakeup working in a chemist shop!
1961		R.S. Close With Hooves of Brass 113: Of course, they had only been having him on - he was a wake-up to that.
1977		(con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 123: You can’t tell me they weren’t a wake-up. [Ibid.] 302: I’m a wake-up to you jokers putting a set of hooks up every time you hit town.
1986		G.A. Wilkes Exploring Aus. Eng. 13: One enterprising convict, James Hardy Vaux, put together a vocabulary of the criminal slang of the colony – the ‘flash’ language – in 1812. His list includes [...] awake with the explanation that ‘to be awake to any scheme, deception, or design, means, to see through or comprehend it.’ As we would now say, ‘I am a wake-up to that.’.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers xxiv: ‘We are even a wake-up as to which particular bookie you favour, Mr Bunter’.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 36: Chalmers notes the following survivals: awake, as in to be aware or a wake-up to someone or something.

2. (US prison) the last day of one’s sentence or term of milit. service [the days left are calculated as ‘X and a wake-up’; thus one ‘wakes up’ in an institution, but goes to bed in freedom; similarly used in US milit. for the final morning of one’s service].

1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 234/1: Wake-up. (P) The morning of the day on which a convict is scheduled to be released.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 822: wake-up – The day of release from prison.
1978		J. Webb Fields of Fire (1980) 356: ‘How many days you got?’ ‘Forty-seven. And a wake-up.’.
1982		(con. 1970) J.M. Del Vecchio 13th Valley (1983) 22: Twenty-six en a wake-up.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 30: Wake Up An inmate’s last morning in prison [...] (Archaic: flop, roll-over).
1994		T. Wolff In Pharoah’s Army 156: ‘That’s when my tour’s up [...] Less than two months.’ He stared at me. ‘Fifty-four and a wake-up,’ I said .

3. (also wake-me-up) the first drink of the day, also attrib.

1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 122: Altar boys [...] pouring too much wine in his chalice, as if all he wanted first thing in the morning was a stiff wake-me-up.
1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl.
2000		W.T. Vollmann Royal Family 737: He took the beer back, gulped it down [...] I’m not doin’ shit without my morning wakeup.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 113: Reporters and camera dinks climbed out [...] They passed around wake-up jugs.

4. (also wake-up boost, wake-up hit, wake-up shot) a narcotics user’s first injection of the day; a crack cocaine user’s first pipe; occas. as v.

1954		Maurer & Vogel Narcotics and Narcotic Addiction.
1966		J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 11–12: This is his ‘wake-up,’ a morning shot to hold off the anxiety and sickness of withdrawal and get him ‘straight’ enough to start the day.
1972		E. Grogan Ringolevio 40: The first shot in the morning, which is called a wake-up.
1972		O. Hawkins Ghetto Sketches 69: Committin’ any kind of little funny, off-brand crime in order to make sure I had a wake-up shot.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 69: Sell me an eighth of shit for my girl and me to wake up on.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 73: Wake-up boost The dose of drugs addicts have saved from the previous day to ensure a morning ‘fix.’.
1992		S.L. Hills Tragic Magic 3: Every dope fiend I know is concerned about his wake-up shot.
1993		R. Shell Iced 112: I can’t even get a wake-up hit now, ’cause I blasted myself sideways last night.
1995		J. Stahl Permanent Midnight 148: I was already wishing I’d [...] arranged a wake-up to tide me over.
2002		J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 39: Dawg, the only thing you ever cooked was your morning wake-up shot.
2005		J. Stahl I, Fatty 131: [...] injecting his wake-up – the morning bang of morphine he needs to get up and shave.
2013		J. Stahl Happy Mutant Baby Pills 31: I just want a man who won’t steal my wake-up!
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] ‘You lie to me again, you detox in a jail cell. Tell me the truth, your wake-up’s on me’.
2021		T. Swerdlow Straight Dope [ebook] — Let him do his wake-up.

5. (also waker) any form of stimulant and amphetamine.

1967		Reynolds & McClure Freewheelin Frank 56: Geezin crystal is an amphetamine trip. It is a good trip because it is a waker — an upper rather than a downer like heroin.
1971		Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, OH) 16 Mar. 2/6: For example, the amphetamines are identified on the chart as ‘bennies,’ ‘peaches,’ ‘speed,’ ‘uppers,’ ‘cartwheels,’ ‘co-pilots,’ ‘wake-ups,’ ‘dexies,’ and ‘bombido.’.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 169: Benzedrine – variously called [...] chalk, or wake-up.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 22: Wake ups — Amphetamine.
2012		(con. 1943) G.S. Manson Coorparoo Blues [ebook] ‘What pills?’ ‘You know, the wake-up gear’.