vigilance committee † Hist. DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
THIS ENTRY MAY CONTAIN OUTDATED INFORMATION, TERMS and EXAMPLES
a committee of citizens set up to watch over and protect the interests of a community, faction, etc., often according to their own definition of "interests."
- 1836  (1848-1866)  In most of the places of these meetings Vigilance Committees have been formed and the registration commenced, and in some of them, delegates have been named to the proposed general meeting.
- 1897  Knots of people can be seen at every street corner considering the advisability of holding a mass meeting and forming a vigilance committee for the purpose of dealing in a summary manner with the jumpers.
- 1921  When word came of this murder the vigilance committee of Yale formed a rifle company of forty... .