excubation

E1X8C3U1B3A1T1I1O1N1

noun

A keeping watch; a vigil.

OriginLatin excubatio →
Scrabble 21
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Meanings

nounexcubation (uncountable)
  1. obsoleteuncountableA keeping watch; a vigil.

    Yseult, who was not in the secret, demanded the reason of this perpetual excubation, and was, for the first time, informed that Tristan had sent for the queen of Cornwall.

    1814, John Colin Dunlop, The History of Fiction
    1 more example

    Infinitely more so than the lucubrations Is the necessity there is for excubations. Hard's the duty in three watches—worse watch and watch— Expos'd to the elements without a thatch […]

    1840, Philonauta, Naval Progression, or the Midshipman of the Old School

Origin

  1. Latinexcubatio
  2. Englishexcubation

From Latin excubatio, from excubare (“to lie out on guard”), from ex (“out”) + cubare (“to lie down”).

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

excubation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excubation

MLA

“excubation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excubation. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “excubation,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/excubation.

Source: excubation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.