Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Honorable

Hon′or·a·ble (ŏn′ẽr·ȧ·b'l), a. [F. honorable, L. honorabilis.] 1. Worthy of honor; fit to be esteemed or regarded; estimable; illustrious.

Thy name and honorable family. Shak.

2. High-minded; actuated by principles of honor, or a scrupulous regard to probity, rectitude, or reputation.

3. Proceeding from an upright and laudable cause, or directed to a just and proper end; not base; irreproachable; fair; as, an honorable motive.

Is this proceeding just and honorable? Shak.

4. Conferring honor, or produced by noble deeds.

Honorable wounds from battle brought. Dryden.

5. Worthy of respect; regarded with esteem; to be commended; consistent with honor or rectitude.

Marriage is honorable in all. Heb. xiii. 4.

6. Performed or accompanied with marks of honor, or with testimonies of esteem; as, an honorable burial.

7. Of reputable association or use; respectable.

Let her descend: my chambers are honorable. Shak.

8. An epithet of respect or distinction; as, the honorable Senate; the honorable gentleman.

☞ Honorable is a title of quality, conferred by English usage upon the younger children of earls and all the children of viscounts and barons. The maids of honor, lords of session, and the supreme judges of England and Ireland are entitled to the prefix. In American usage, it is a title of courtesy merely, bestowed upon those who hold, or have held, any of the higher public offices, esp. governors, judges, members of Congress or of the Senate, mayors.

Right honorable. See under Right.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.