vigil

Meanings

1. An instance of keeping awake during normal sleeping hours, especially to keep watch or pray.
2. A period of observation or surveillance at any hour.
3. The eve of a religious festival in which staying awake is part of the ritual devotions.
4. A quiet demonstration in support of a cause.

1. To participate in a vigil.

1. A surname.

Etymology

From Middle English vigile (“a devotional watching”), from Old French vigile, from Latin vigilia (“wakefulness, watch”), from vigil (“awake”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- (“to be strong, lively, awake”). Doublet of Wigilia. See also wake and vigor, from the same root.