Vigil

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. "Worn
        out by the labors and vigils of many months." --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Nothing wears out a fine face like the vigils of the
              card table and those cutting passions which attend
              them.                                 --Addison.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Hence, devotional watching; waking for prayer, or other
        religious exercises.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              So they in heaven their odes and vigils tuned.
                                                    --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Be sober and keep vigil,
              The Judge is at the gate.             --Neale
                                                    (Rhythm of St.
                                                    Bernard).
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Eccl.)
        (a) Originally, the watch kept on the night before a
            feast.
        (b) Later, the day and the night preceding a feast.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  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.
            [1913 Webster]
        (c) A religious service performed in the evening preceding
            a feast.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     {Vigils of flowers} or {Watchings of flowers} (Bot.), a
        peculiar faculty belonging to the flowers of certain
        plants of opening and closing their petals at certain
        hours of the day. [R.]
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [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}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  81 Moby Thesaurus words for "vigil":
     Mass, alertness, all-night vigil, bedtime prayer, camp meeting,
     church, church service, compline, consciousness, custodianship,
     custody, devotions, divine service, duty, eagle eye,
     evening devotions, evensong, exercises, guard, guardedness,
     guardianship, insomnia, insomniac, insomnolence, insomnolency,
     invigilation, lauds, lidless vigil, liturgy, lookout, matins,
     meeting, monitoring, morning devotions, night song, none, nones,
     novena, observance, office, peeled eye, praise meeting, prayer,
     prayer meeting, prayers, prime, prime song, proctoring, prudence,
     public worship, qui vive, restlessness, revival, revival meeting,
     sentience, service, sext, sharp eye, sleeplessness, stewardship,
     surveillance, tent meeting, tierce, tossing and turning, undersong,
     vesper, vespers, vigilance, vigils, wake, wakefulness, wariness,
     watch, watch and ward, watch meeting, watch night,
     watch-night service, watchful eye, watchfulness, watching,
     weather eye