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Definition of vigil


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vig·il  audio  (vjl) KEY  

NOUN:
    1. A watch kept during normal sleeping hours.
    2. The act or a period of observing; surveillance.
  1. The eve of a religious festival observed by staying awake as a devotional exercise.
  2. Ritual devotions observed on the eve of a holy day. Often used in the plural.

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


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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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