Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Worship?

\Wor"ship\, n. [OE. worshipe, wur[eth]scipe, AS. weor[eth]scipe; weor[eth] worth + -scipe -ship. See {Worth}, a., and {-ship}.] 1. Excellence of character; dignity; worth; worthiness. [Obs.] --Shak. A man of worship and honour. --Chaucer. Elfin, born of noble state, And muckle worship in his native land. --Spenser. 2. Honor; respect; civil deference. [Obs.] Of which great worth and worship may be won. --Spenser. Then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. --Luke xiv. 10. 3. Hence, a title of honor, used in addresses to certain magistrates and others of rank or station. My father desires your worships' company. --Shak. 4. The act of paying divine honors to the Supreme Being; religious reverence and homage; adoration, or acts of reverence, paid to God, or a being viewed as God. ``God with idols in their worship joined.'' --Milton. The worship of God is an eminent part of religion, and prayer is a chief part of religious worship. --Tillotson. 5. Obsequious or submissive respect; extravagant admiration; adoration. 'T is your inky brows, your black silk hair, Your bugle eyeballs, nor your cheek of cream, That can my spirits to your worship. --Shak. 6. An object of worship. In attitude and aspect formed to be At once the artist's worship and despair. --Longfellow. {Devil worship}, {Fire worship}, {Hero worship}, etc. See under {Devil}, {Fire}, {Hero}, etc.
\Wor"ship\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Worshiped}or {Worshipped}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Worshiping} or {Worshipping}.] 1. To respect; to honor; to treat with civil reverence. [Obsoles.] --Chaucer. Our grave . . . shall have a tongueless mouth, Not worshiped with a waxen epitaph. --Shak. This holy image that is man God worshipeth. --Foxe. 2. To pay divine honors to; to reverence with supreme respect and veneration; to perform religious exercises in honor of; to adore; to venerate. But God is to be worshiped. --Shak. When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones. --Milton. 3. To honor with extravagant love and extreme submission, as a lover; to adore; to idolize. With bended knees I daily worship her. --Carew. Syn: To adore; revere; reverence; bow to; honor.
\Wor"ship\, v. i. To perform acts of homage or adoration; esp., to perform religious service. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. --John iv. 20. Was it for this I have loved . . . and worshiped in silence? --Longfellow.