Meaning & use
excubation
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Meanings
noununcountablerarearchaicformal
The act of staying awake to keep watch, especially during the night hours.
Grammar: Used as an uncountable noun: it names the activity itself, so you say 'the excubation of the guards', not 'an excubation'.
Patterns
- the excubation of someone
- during someone's excubation
- be on excubation
In the old chronicle, the excubation of the watchmen lasted from dusk until the bells rang at dawn.
The monks described their nightly excubation as a duty that tested both body and faith.
Chroniclers recorded that the king himself shared in the excubation of his guards on the eve of battle.
nouncountablerarearchaicformal
A period or spell of night-time guarding, considered as a single occasion.
Grammar: Countable when it refers to one particular occasion: 'a long excubation', 'three excubations'.
Patterns
- a long excubation
- during an excubation
- undertake an excubation
Each excubation was divided into four shifts, with a fresh pair of men taking over every three hours.
He wrote of a cold excubation on the walls, when the wind never once stopped.
The abbot ordered an excubation of seven nights to guard the relics.
Word forms
| plural | excubations |
|---|
Common combinations
- nightly excubation
- The rule of the order required a nightly excubation in the chapel.
- keep excubation
- Two soldiers were told to keep excubation at the gate until sunrise.
- the excubation of the guard
- The excubation of the guard was recorded in the castle ledger.
- a long excubation
- After a long excubation he could barely keep his eyes open.
- share in an excubation
- The young squire was allowed to share in an excubation for the first time.
Synonyms and how they differ
- vigil
- Much more common than 'excubation' and used for any period of staying awake to watch, pray, or protest.
- watch
- The everyday word; it can mean the duty, the time period, or the people doing it, while 'excubation' covers only the act or occasion.
- guard duty
- A modern phrase that fits military or security contexts better than the archaic 'excubation'.
Opposites
Word family
- excubitor noun
- A rare historical term for a watchman or sentinel.
- excubant adjective
- Very rare; describes someone who is keeping watch.
Commonly confused: excubation or incubation? excubation or exculpation?
excubation vs incubation
Sounds similar but means keeping eggs warm until they hatch, or the development period of an illness or idea.
excubation vs exculpation
Also begins with 'excu-' but means the act of proving someone is not guilty.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'excubation' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Excubation' means night-time watching or guarding, so guarding the castle walls until dawn fits. Option 0 describes incubation (keeping eggs warm), option 2 describes exculpation (clearing someone of blame), and option 3 confuses it with a medical rest or recovery period.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “excubation”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.