vigil
n. countablen. a period of time when you stay awake at night to pray, wait for someone, or show respect for a person who is sick or has died.
n. a period of purposeful wakefulness during the night, typically maintained for religious devotion, political protest, or to keep watch over a sick or deceased person.
The family kept a quiet vigil by the hospital bed.
Hundreds of people gathered for a candlelight vigil in the town square to honor the victims of the accident.
The monks maintained a perpetual prayer vigil, rotating shifts so that the sanctuary was never left unattended throughout the liturgical season.
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.
Often used with the verb 'to keep' or 'to hold'.