Chapter Viduity to Village of V by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

2. Watchfulness in respect of danger; care; caution; circumspection. Cowper.

And flaming ministers to watch and tend
Their earthly charge; of these the vigilance
I dread.

Milton.

3. Guard; watch. [Obs.] "In at this gate none pass the vigilance here placed." Milton.

Vigilance committee, a volunteer committee of citizens for the oversight and protection of any interest, esp. one organized for the summary suppression and punishment of crime, as when the processes of law appear inadequate.

Vigilancy
(Vig"i*lan*cy) n. Vigilance. [Obs.] Fuller.

Vigilant
(Vig"i*lant) a. [L. vigilans, - antis, p. pr. of vigilare to watch, fr. vigil awake: cf. F. vigilant. See Vigil.] Attentive to discover and avoid danger, or to provide for safety; wakeful; watchful; circumspect; wary. "Be sober, be vigilant." 1 Pet. v. 8.

Sirs, take your places, and be vigilant.

Shak.

Vigilantly
(Vig"i*lant*ly), adv. In a vigilant manner.

Vigily
(Vig"i*ly) n. [L. vigilia.] A vigil. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Vigintivirate
(Vi`gin*tiv"i*rate) n. [L. vigintiviratus, fr. vigintiviri; viginti twenty + vir a man.] The office of the vigintiviri, a body of officers of government consisting of twenty men; also, the vigintiviri. [R.]

Vignette
(Vi*gnette") n. [F. vignette, fr. vigne a vine. See Vine, and cf. Vinette.]

1. (Arch.) A running ornament consisting of leaves and tendrils, used in Gothic architecture.

2. A decorative design, originally representing vine branches or tendrils, at the head of a chapter, of a manuscript or printed book, or in a similar position; hence, by extension, any small picture in a book; hence, also, as such pictures are often without a definite bounding line, any picture, as an engraving, a photograph, or the like, which vanishes gradually at the edge.

Vignette
(Vi*gnette"), v. t. To make, as an engraving or a photograph, with a border or edge insensibly fading away.

Vigonia
(Vi*go"ni*a) a. [Cf. F. vigogne vicuña. See Vicuña.] Of or pertaining to the vicuña; characterizing the vicuña; — said of the wool of that animal, used in felting hats, and for other purposes. Prescott.

Vigor
(Vig"or) n. [OE. vigour, vigor, OF. vigor, vigur, vigour, F. vigueur, fr. L. vigor, fr. vigere to be lively or strong. See Vegetable, Vigil.]

1. Active strength or force of body or mind; capacity for exertion, physically, intellectually, or morally; force; energy.

The vigor of this arm was never vain.

Dryden.

2. Strength or force in animal or force in animal or vegetable nature or action; as, a plant grows with vigor.

3. Strength; efficacy; potency.

But in the fruithful earth . . .
His beams, unactive else, their vigor find.

Milton.

Vigor and its derivatives commonly imply active strength, or the power of action and exertion, in distinction from passive strength, or strength to endure.