vigil
[ vij-uh l ]
/ ˈvɪdʒ əl /
noun
wakefulness maintained for any reason during the normal hours for sleeping.
a watch or a period of watchful attention maintained at night or at other times: The nurse kept her vigil at the bedside of the dying man.
a period of wakefulness from inability to sleep.
Ecclesiastical.
- a devotional watching, or keeping awake, during the customary hours of sleep.
- Sometimes vigils. a nocturnal devotional exercise or service, especially on the eve before a church festival.
- the eve, or day and night, before a church festival, especially an eve that is a fast.
Origin of vigil
1200–50; Middle English
vigil(i)e < Anglo-French < Medieval Latin
vigilia eve of a holy day, special use of Latin
vigilia watchfulness, equivalent to
vigil sentry +
-ia
-y3
Words nearby vigil
Example sentences from the Web for vigil
British Dictionary definitions for vigil
vigil
/ (ˈvɪdʒɪl) /
noun
a purposeful watch maintained, esp at night, to guard, observe, pray, etc
the period of such a watch
RC Church Church of England
the eve of certain major festivals, formerly observed as a night spent in prayer: often marked by fasting and abstinence and a special Mass and divine office
a period of sleeplessness; insomnia
Word Origin for vigil
C13: from Old French
vigile, from Medieval Latin
vigilia watch preceding a religious festival, from Latin: vigilance, from
vigil alert, from
vigēre to be lively