| Library / English Dictionary |
VIGIL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A purposeful surveillance to guard or observe
Synonyms:
vigil; watch
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("vigil" is a kind of...):
surveillance (close observation of a person or group (usually by the police))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "vigil"):
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)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The rite of staying awake for devotional purposes (especially on the eve of a religious festival)
Synonyms:
vigil; watch
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("vigil" is a kind of...):
religious rite; rite (an established ceremony prescribed by a religion)
Domain category:
faith; religion; religious belief (a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "vigil"):
viewing; wake (a vigil held over a corpse the night before burial)
agrypnia (a vigil before certain feasts (as e.g. Easter))
Sense 3
Meaning:
A period of sleeplessness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("vigil" is a kind of...):
wakefulness (a periodic state during which you are conscious and aware of the world)
Context examples:
He did not go home immediately; and under the tree where he kept his vigils he looked up at a window and murmured: "That date was with you, Ruth. I kept it for you."
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
It was a lonely vigil.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
In fact, he seemed as much at home among the trees as on the ground; and Buck had memories of nights of vigil spent beneath trees wherein the hairy man roosted, holding on tightly as he slept.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
It was a long and melancholy vigil, and yet brought with it something of the thrill which the hunter feels when he lies beside the water-pool, and waits for the coming of the thirsty beast of prey.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
At first the steps of a few belated villagers, or the sound of voices from the village, lightened our vigil, but one by one these interruptions died away, and an absolute stillness fell upon us, save for the chimes of the distant church, which told us of the progress of the night, and for the rustle and whisper of a fine rain falling amid the foliage which roofed us in.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Tom and Miss Baker, with several feet of twilight between them strolled back into the library, as if to a vigil beside a perfectly tangible body, while trying to look pleasantly interested and a little deaf I followed Daisy around a chain of connecting verandas to the porch in front.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
Over the ashheaps the giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept their vigil but I perceived, after a moment, that other eyes were regarding us with peculiar intensity from less than twenty feet away.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
He put his hands in his coat pockets and turned back eagerly to his scrutiny of the house, as though my presence marred the sacredness of the vigil. So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight—watching over nothing.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
