a. and sb. Also 6 -aunt, 7 -ent. [a. F. vigilant (= Sp., Pg., It. vigilante), or ad. L. vigilant-, vigilans, pres. pple. of vigilāre to keep awake, f. vigil awake.]
A. adj. 1. Wakeful and watchful; keeping steadily on the alert; attentively or closely observant.
c. 1480. Henryson, Fables, Paddock & Mouse, xxiv. Be vigilant, thairfoir, and ay reddie, For mannis lyfe is brukill, and ay mortall.
1538. Tonstall, Serm. Palm Sund. (1823), 97. Saint Paule sayth … Gyue you to prayer, beinge vigilant in it.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 120. Would to God you were as diligent in avancing his glory, as they are vigilante and circumspect in handlyng of their matters.
1611. Bible, 1 Pet. v. 8. Be sober, be vigilant.
1640. Quarles, Enchirid., IV. xcix. Be very vigilent over thy Childe in the April of his understanding.
1660. in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 561. I am forced to be vigilant least I should be by him insnared.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 65, ¶ 4. You are so little vigilant, as to let the Dogs run from their Kennels to this Place.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xviii. (1787), II. 109. The vigilant citizens improved the opportunity of the night.
1821. Byron, Mar. Fal., III. ii. Disperse then to your posts: be firm and vigilant.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii. I. 274. A vigilant observer of all those minute circumstances which throw light on the dispositions of men.
1855. Prescott, Philip II., II. iii. I. 171. He evaded the vigilance of the custom-house officers and the more vigilant spies of the Inquisition.
absol. 1848. Wharton, Law Lex., 691/1. Laws come to the assistance of the vigilant, not to the sleepy.
† b. Const. of Obs. rare.
1654–66. Earl Orrery, Parthen. (1676), 166. Blacius is so vigilant of his Daughter, that your Rival can derive no advantage by his freedom.
1739. Swift, Lett. to Ld. Arran, Wks. 1841, II. 819/2. Your lordship’s present agent being extremely vigilant of all your lordship’s interests, has lately renewed the claim of the Ormond family to those tithes.
c. Her. Of animals: (see quots.).
c. 1828. Berry, Encycl. Her., I. Gloss., Vigilant. This term is applicable to the cat, when borne in a position as if upon the watch for prey.
1863. Boutell, Her. Hist. & Pop. (ed. 2), 57. The Lion … may be Vigilant or Vorant—watching for his prey, or devouring it.
d. Vigilant men, members of a Vigilance Committee (see VIGILANCE 3). U.S.
1824. Missouri Intelligencer, 12 Feb. (Thornton). We hate what are called vigilant men; they are a set of suspicious, mean spirited mortals, that dislike fun.
2. Of attention, etc.: Characterized by vigilance.
1531. Elyot, Governeur, I. xiii. (1880), I. 131. To the augmentation of understandyng … is required to be moche redyng and vigilaunt studie in euery science.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 145. He tooke order with one Clere … that he shoulde have a vigilant eie to his arrivall.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. xxxiii. § 1. That vigilant and erect attention of mind, which in prayer is verie necessarie.
1642. J. Taylor (Water P.), Life Walker the Ironmonger, A ij b. In which businesse there was used such vigilant care, that they were both taken that very day.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 12, ¶ 2. A long week, I lived with my cousin, before the most vigilant inquiry could procure us the least hopes of a place.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 340. She has lost Much of her vigilant instinctive dread, Not needful here.
1836. W. Irving, Astoria, III. 64. They kept a vigilant eye … upon every height where a scout might be posted.
1844. H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, I. 400. It was impossible for him to exercise a vigilant personal supervision over the officers of the police.
† 3. Wakeful; sleepless. Obs. rare.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, vii. 131. It is a drinke very profitable … for students, for them that are too vigilant.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., X. 439. Least the vehemency of chirking frogs vexe the wish’d for Repose,… and cast him in a vigilant perplexity.
B. sb. 1. A guardian or keeper. rare.
1822. Repository, No. 80. 110. Persian women of rank … hardly move but on horseback, and escorted always by trains of eunuchs and other trusty vigilants.
2. One who is wakeful or watchful.
1822. T. G. Wainewright, Ess. & Crit. (1880), 267. Nina no doubt shrank within her shadowy bower … from the hazy vision of these vigilants.
Hence † Vigilantness, vigilance. Obs. rare.
a. 1598. Rollock, Passion, xi. (1616), 97. Pilate had a great vigilantnesse in his conscience.
1727. Bailey (vol. II.), Vigilantness, Watchfulness.
