wake up and smell the coffee
Often in the infinitive or imperative: to face reality and stop deluding oneselfOften in the infinitive or imperative: to face reality and stop deluding oneself.
» It is hard to wake up without a strong cup of coffee.
Es ist schwierig wach zu werden ohne eine starke Tasse Kaffee. — waeltken
Без чашечки крепкого кофе просыпаться тяжко. — Ann74
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
1 senses(Philippines, US, idiomatic, informal)Often in the infinitive or imperative: to face reality and stop deluding oneself.
Examples
11 sentencesIt is hard to wake up without a strong cup of coffee.
ruБез чашечки крепкого кофе просыпаться тяжко. — Ann74
deEs ist schwierig wach zu werden ohne eine starke Tasse Kaffee. — waeltken
I love waking up to the smell of coffee.
When I wake up, it's time for coffee.
Коли я прокидаюся - час для кави. — Ahha
Wake up and smell the coffee.
I'm having my wake-up coffee.
deIch trinke gerade meinen Wachwerdkaffee. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
Translations
4 languagesOrigin
Probably a humorous elaboration of wake up (“to become more aware of a real-life situationProbably a humorous elaboration of wake up (“to become more aware of a real-life situation; to concentrate on the matter in hand”), alluding to the fact that coffee is often consumed at breakfast time after waking up in the morning. The term was popularized by the American writer Esther Pauline “Eppie” Lederer (1918–2002), who used the pen name Ann Landers, in the syndicated newspaper advice column Ask Ann Landers.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
wakes up and smells the coffee, waking up and smelling the coffee, woke up and smelled the coffee, woken up and smelled the coffee| Base form | wake up and smell the coffee · to wake up and smell the coffee |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | wakes up and smells the coffee |
| Present participle | waking up and smelling the coffee |
| Past simple | woke up and smelled the coffee / woke up and smelt the coffee |
| Past participle | woken up and smelled the coffee / woken up and smelt the coffee |
irregular · Lesson
Present simpleLesson
| I, you, we, they | wake up and smell the coffee |
| he, she, it | wakes up and smells the coffee |
Past simpleLesson
| all persons | woke up and smelled the coffee |
Present perfectLesson
| I, you, we, they | have woken up and smelled the coffee |
| he, she, it | has woken up and smelled the coffee |
Future simple (will)Lesson
| all persons | will wake up and smell the coffee |
Synonyms
5 synonymsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, irregular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.