vigil

vig·il

Use vigil in a sentence

noun

The definition of a vigil is a quiet gathering, usually during normal sleeping hours.

An example of a vigil is a candlelight service for someone who died.

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"vigil." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 24 March 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/VIGIL>.

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vigil. (n.d.). Retrieved March 24th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/VIGIL

vigil

1. a purposeful or watchful staying awake during the usual hours of sleep
2. a watch kept, or the period of this
Eccles. the evening or day before a festival, or the devotional services held then

Origin of vigil

Middle English vigile from Old French from Classical Latin vigilia, a watch from vigil, awake from vegere, to arouse: see wake

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MLA Style

"vigil." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 24 March 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/VIGIL>.

APA Style

vigil. (n.d.). Retrieved March 24th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/VIGIL

vigil

noun

a. A watch kept during normal sleeping hours.
b. The act or a period of observing; surveillance.
The eve of a religious festival observed by staying awake as a devotional exercise.
often vigils Ritual devotions observed on the eve of a holy day.
A public assembly convened, often at night, as a political protest or in support of a cause.

Origin of vigil

Middle English vigile a devotional watching from Old French from Latin vigilia wakefulness, watch from vigil awake ; see weg- in Indo-European roots.

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"vigil." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 24 March 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/VIGIL>.

APA Style

vigil. (n.d.). Retrieved March 24th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/VIGIL

Noun

(plural vigils)

A watch kept during normal sleeping hours, especially over the body of a recently deceased or dying person.
A period of observation or surveillance.
The eve of some religious festival in which staying awake is part of the ritual devotions.

Origin

Middle English vigile (“a devotional watching"), from Old French vigile, from Latin vigilia (“wakefulness, watch"), from vigil (“awake"), from Proto-Indo-European *weg- (“to be strong").

Related to vigor, and more distantly compare vis and vital, from similar Proto-Indo-European roots and meanings (lively, power, life), via Latin. For use of “live, alive" in sense “watching", compare qui vive.

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.