Definition of vigil

< vigia

vigilance >

vig·il    (vjl) KEY 

NOUN:

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

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