2 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Vigil \Vig"il\, n. [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}.]
1. 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.
Nothing wears out a fine face like the vigils of the
card table and those cutting passions which attend
them --Addison.
2. Hence devotional watching; waking for prayer, or other
religious exercises.
So they in heaven their odes and vigils tuned.
--Milton.
Be sober and keep vigil, The Judge is at the gate.
--Neale
(Rhythm of St
Bernard).
3. (Eccl.)
a Originally, the watch kept on the night before a
feast.
b Later the day and the night preceding a feast.
He that shall live this day and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors,
And say ``To-morrow is St Crispian.'' --Shak.
c A religious service performed in the evening preceding
a feast.
{Vigils, or Watchings}, {of flowers} (Bot.), a peculiar
faculty belonging to the flowers of certain plants of
opening and closing their petals as certain hours of the
day [R.]
From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]:
vigil
n 1: a period of sleeplessness
2: a devotional watch (especially on the eve of a religious
festival) [syn: {watch}]
3: a purposeful surveillance to guard or observe [syn: {watch}]
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