Eva and Paul kept a constant vigil by their daughter’s hospital bedside.vigilvig‧il /ˈvɪdʒəl/ noun [countable, uncountable] 
Eva and Paul kept a constant vigil by their daughter’s hospital bedside.2a silent political protest in which people wait outside a building, especially during the nightsilent/candle-lit vigil Two thousand demonstrators held a candle-lit vigil outside the embassy.
WORD ORIGINvigil
Origin:
1200-1300 Old French vigile, from Latin vigilia ‘staying awake, keeping watch’, from vigil ‘awake’EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
- A blizzard kept demonstrators away, and a planned church vigil reportedly fizzled for lack of interest.
- All the McIlkenny grandchildren are holding candles in support of the vigil for their grandfather.
- At the weekend they held a silent vigil in Liverpool.
- For Hagerman and others in his family, it was the second time they have endured such a vigil.
- They will share the vigil for tigers in every bush, and fire in every breath of wind.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Eva and Paul kept a constant vigil by their daughter’s hospital bedside. Two thousand demonstrators held a candle-lit vigil outside the embassy.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE
1a period of time, especially during the night, when you stay awake in order to pray, remain with someone who is ill, or watch for danger: Eva and Paul kept a constant vigil by their daughter’s hospital bedside. Two thousand demonstrators held a candle-lit vigil outside the embassy.· At the weekend they held a silent vigil in Liverpool.· Outside, 100 opponents of the death penalty held a silent vigil, and a handful of its supporters jeered.· It has urged women to assemble in their streets to pray together and stage silent vigils.· But as he began his sixth day his silent vigil ended.
VERB· At the weekend they held a silent vigil in Liverpool.· Outside, 100 opponents of the death penalty held a silent vigil, and a handful of its supporters jeered.· All the McIlkenny grandchildren are holding candles in support of the vigil for their grandfather.· Buddhist monks dressed in ochre robes lit traditional butter lamps and held a six-hour prayer vigil at a Himalayan monastery in Sikkim.· They have the backing of a prison reform group, and will hold a candlelight vigil outside the jail this weekend.· Canon Oates held another vigil to mark John's five hundredth day in August.
· What thanks is this for keeping vigil outside in the street nearly all night?· He was always in the cheerful rooms upstairs, where the Sisters kept a constant vigil on premature and very sick children.· They kept up a twenty-four-hour vigil outside Coleherne Court, and plagued her at the kindergarten.· Time lost its familiar context, and uncertainty and foreboding colored those who kept vigil.· Miles kept vigil by the door but began to grow tired.· Charles departs for the opera, leaving a distraught Diana to keep a bedside vigil for two days by herself.· All that night again Kalchu kept his vigil.· A well-loved monument to the devotion of a little terrier who kept vigil on his master's grave for many years.
· As his devoted family maintained a constant vigil at his bedside, they were rewarded by gradual signs of improvement.· The family are maintaining a bedside vigil for their son who suffered serious head injuries in the attack.
Eva and Paul kept a constant vigil by their daughter’s hospital bedside.2a silent political protest in which people wait outside a building, especially during the nightsilent/candle-lit vigil Two thousand demonstrators held a candle-lit vigil outside the embassy.