vigil: Meaning and Definition of

vig•il

Pronunciation: (vij'ul), [key]
— n.
  1. wakefulness maintained for any reason during the normal hours for sleeping.
  2. a watch or a period of watchful attention maintained at night or at other times: The nurse kept her vigil at the bedside of the dying man.
  3. a period of wakefulness from inability to sleep.
    1. a devotional watching, or keeping awake, during the customary hours of sleep.
    2. Sometimes,vigils.a nocturnal devotional exercise or service, esp. on the eve before a church festival.
    3. the eve, or day and night, before a church festival, esp. an eve that is a fast.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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