Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Reverence

Rev′er·ence (rĕv′ẽr·ens), n. [F. révérence, L. reverentia. See Reverent.] 1. Profound respect and esteem mingled with fear and affection, as for a holy being or place; the disposition to revere; veneration.

If thou be poor, farewell thy reverence. Chaucer.

Reverence, which is the synthesis of love and fear. Coleridge.

When discords, and quarrels, and factions, are carried openly and audaciously, it is a sign the reverence of government islost. Bacon.

☞ Formerly, as in Chaucer, reverence denoted "respect" "honor", without awe or fear.

2. The act of revering; a token of respect or veneration; an obeisance.

Make twenty reverences upon receiving . . . about twopence. Goldsmith.

And each of them doeth all his diligence To do unto the feast reverence. Chaucer.

3. That which deserves or exacts manifestations of reverence; reverend character; dignity; state.

I am forced to lay my reverence by. Shak.

4. A person entitled to be revered; — a title applied to priests or other ministers with the pronouns his or your; sometimes poetically to a father. Shak.

Save your reverence, Saving your reverence, an apologetical phrase for an unseemly expression made in the presence of a priest or clergyman. — Sir reverence, a contracted form of Save your reverence.

Such a one as a man may not speak of, without he say. "Sir reverence." Shak.

— To do reverence, to show reverence or honor; to perform an act of reverence.

Now lies he there, And none so poor to do him reverence. Shak.

Syn. — Awe; honor; veneration; adoration; dread. — Awe, Reverence, Dread, Veneration. Reverence is a strong sentiment of respect and esteem, sometimes mingled slightly with fear; as, reverence for the divine law. Awe is a mixed feeling of sublimity and dread in view of something great or terrible, sublime or sacred; as, awe at the divine presence. It does not necessarily imply love. Dread is an anxious fear in view of an impending evil; as, dread of punishment. Veneration is reverence in its strongest manifestations. It is the highest emotion we can exercise toward human beings. Exalted and noble objects produce reverence; terrific and threatening objects awaken dread; a sense of the divine presence fills us with awe; a union of wisdom and virtue in one who is advanced in years inspires us with veneration.

Rev′er·ence, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reverenced; p. pr. & vb. n. Reverencing.] To regard or treat with reverence; to regard with respect and affection mingled with fear; to venerate.

Let . . . the wife see that she reverence her husband. Eph. v. 33.

Those that I reverence those I fear, the wise. Shak.

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 “?”.