vigil

vig·il  (vjl)

n.

1.

a. A watch kept during normal sleeping hours.

b. 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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[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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vigil [vij-ill]

Noun

1. a night-time period of staying awake to look after a sick person, pray, etc.

2. RC Church, Church of England the eve of certain major festivals [Latin: alert]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	vigil - a period of sleeplessness wakefulness - a periodic state during which you are conscious and aware of the world; "consciousness during wakefulness in a sane person is pretty well ordered and familiar"
	2.	vigil - the rite of staying awake for devotional purposes (especially on the eve of a religious festival) watch religious rite, rite - an established ceremony prescribed by a religion; "the rite of baptism" viewing, wake - a vigil held over a corpse the night before burial; "there's no weeping at an Irish wake" agrypnia - a vigil before certain feasts (as e.g. Easter) faith, religion, religious belief - a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny; "he lost his faith but not his morality"
	3.	vigil - a purposeful surveillance to guard or observe watch surveillance - close observation of a person or group (usually by the police) continuous receiver watch, listening watch - a watch established for the reception of traffic of interest to the unit maintaining the watch spying - keeping a secret or furtive watch

Translations

vigil [ˈvɪdʒɪl] n → vigilia;

to keep vigil → velar

vigil [ˈvɪdʒɪl] n → veille f;

to keep vigil → veiller

vigil [ˈvɪdʒɪl] n → Wache f;

to keep vigil → Wache halten

vigil [ˈvɪdʒɪl] n → veglia;

to keep vigil → vegliare