vigil
/ˈvɪd͡ʒəl/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms vigils vigiling vigilling vigiled vigilled
- noun An instance of keeping awake during normal sleeping hours, especially to keep watch or pray.
- noun A period of observation or surveillance at any hour. “His dog kept vigil outside the hospital for eight days while he was recovering from an accident.”
- noun The eve of a religious festival in which staying awake is part of the ritual devotions.
- noun A quiet demonstration in support of a cause. “The protesters kept vigil outside the conference centre in which the party congress was being held.”
- verb (intransitive) To participate in a vigil.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English vigile (“a devotional watching”), from Old French vigile, from Latin vigilia (“wakefulness, watch”), from vigil (“awake”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- (“to be strong, lively, awake”). Doublet of Wigilia. See also wake and vigor, from the same root.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Abstinence from sleep, whether at a time when sleep is customary or not; the act of keeping awake, or the state of being awake, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. "Worn out by the labors and vigils of many months." Macaulay.
- noun Hence, devotional watching; waking for prayer, or other religious exercises.
Etymology [OE. vigile, L. vigilia, from vigil awake, watchful, probably akin to E. wake: cf. F. vigile. See Wake, v. i., and cf. Reveille, Surveillance, Vedette, Vegetable, Vigor.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “vigil”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details