Vigil, vij′il, n. watching: keeping awake for religious exercises: the eve before a feast or fast day, originally kept by watching through the night.—n. Vig′ilance, wakefulness: watchfulness: circumspection: (obs.) a guard, watch.—adj. Vig′ilant, watchful: on the lookout for danger: circumspect.—n. Vigilan′te, a member of a vigilance committee.—adv. Vig′ilantly.—Vigilance committee (U.S.), an unauthorised body which, in the absence or inefficiency of regular courts, exercises legal powers of arrest, punishment, &c. in cases of gross crime: also any self-appointed association for the compulsory improvement of local morals. [Fr.,—L. vigilia—vigil, awake, watchful—vigēre, to be lively.]
Vigneron, vēn-ye-rong, n. a vine-grower. [Fr.]
Vignette, vin-yet′, n. any small ornamental engraving, design, or photograph not enclosed by a definite border: (orig.) an ornamental flourish of vine leaves and tendrils on manuscripts and books.—v.t. to treat or produce in such a style.—ns. Vignett′er; Vignett′ing-glass, -pā′per, a glass frame, mask, used in printing vignette pictures; Vignett′ist, one who makes vignettes. [Fr.,—vigne—L. vinea, a vine.]
Vigour, vig′ur, n. active strength: physical force: vital strength in animals or plants: strength of mind: energy.—adj. Vig′orous, strong either in mind or body.—adv. Vig′orously.—n. Vig′orousness. [Fr.,—L. vigor—vigēre, to be strong.]
Viking, vī′king, n. one of the piratical Northmen who in the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries ravaged the coasts of western Europe.—n. Vī′kingism, characteristics, acts, &c. of Vikings. [Ice. víkingr, (lit.) 'a creeker'—víkr (Swed. vik, Eng. wick), a bay, and -ingr=Eng. -ing.]
Vilayet, vil-a-yet′, n. the name given to the great provinces into which the Ottoman empire is divided.
Vild, vīld, adj. (Spens.) vile, wicked.—adv. Vild′ly.
Vile, vīl, adj. worthless: mean: morally impure: wicked: (B.) poor, cheap.—adv. Vile′ly.—n. Vile′ness.—ns. Vilificā′tion, act of vilifying: defamatory speech: abuse; Vil′ifīer.—v.t. Vil′ify, to make vile: to attempt to degrade by slander: to defame:—pa.t. and pa.p. vil′ifīed.—v.t. Vil′ipend, to slander, vilify.—v.i. to use vilification. [Fr.,—L. vilis.]
Villa, vil′a, n. a country residence or seat: a suburban mansion—also Vill.—ns. Vill′adom, villas collectively, people living in them; Vill′āge, any small assemblage of houses, less than a town: (orig.) a number of houses inhabited by persons near the residence of a proprietor or farmer: (law) a manor, a parish or the outlying part of a parish; Vill′age-commū′nity, a clan of settlers who built their huts on a tract of land and laid out common fields which they cultivated in common as one family, the land being divided out every few years into family lots, but the whole continuing to be cultivated by the community subject to the established customs as interpreted in the village-council by the sense of the village elders—the so-called Mark system of Sir Henry Maine; Vill′āger, an inhabitant of a village; Vill′āgery (Shak.), a district of villages; Vill′akin, Villanette′, a little villa.—adj. Villat′ic (Milt.), pertaining to a farm. [O. Fr. ville (Fr. ville)—L. villa, a country-house, prob. reduced from vicla, dim. of vicus, a village; Gr. oikos, a house.]
Villain, vil′ān, or vil′in, n. a wicked wretch: a man extremely degraded: in feudal times, a member of the lowest class of unfree persons.—ns. Vill′aināge, Vill′anāge, Vill′eināge, Vill′enāge, in feudal times, the tenure of land by villein, i.e. base or menial services.—adj. Vill′ainous, like or suited to a villain: depraved: proceeding from extreme depravity: very bad, mean, vile.—adv. Vill′ainously.—ns. Vill′ainousness; Vill′ainy, the act of a villain: extreme depravity: an atrocious crime. [Orig. 'a serf attached to a farm,' O. Fr. villain—Low L. villanus—L. villa.]