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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Vigil \Vig"il\, noun [OE. vigile, L. vigilia, from vigil awake, watchful, probably akin to E. wake: cf. F. vigile. See {Wake}, verb (used without an object), 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, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. ''Worn out by the labors and vigils of many months.'' --Macaulay.
Nothing wears out a fine face like the vigils of the card table and those cutting passions which attend them. --Addison.
2. Hence, devotional watching; waking for prayer, or other religious exercises.
So they in heaven their odes and vigils tuned. --Milton.
Be sober and keep vigil, The Judge is at the gate. --Neale (Rhythm of St. Bernard).
3. (Eccl.) (a) Originally, the watch kept on the night before a feast. (b) Later, the day and the night preceding a feast.
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. (c) A religious service performed in the evening preceding a feast.
{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.]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
vigil
noun
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
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