adoration

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act of worship.
2. n. Profound love or regard.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of paying honors, as to a divine being; worship addressed to a deity; the supreme worship due to God alone. In the Rom. Cath. Ch., adoration is applied to any one of three kinds of worship (though properly only to the first), namely: latria, or worship due to God alone; dulia, or the secondary worship paid to angels and saints directly, or through the veneration of relics and images; and hyperdulia, the higher worship paid to the Virgin Mary. The saints and the Virgin are adored as the friends of God, having intercessory power with him.
2. n. Homage, or an act of homage, paid to one in high place or held in high esteem; profound reverence; the utmost respect, regard, or esteem; the highest degree of love, as of a man for a woman; heart's devotion.
3. n. In art and archaeology: A representation of the adoration of the infant Jesus by the magi or the shepherds.
4. n. A representation of the worship of an ancient divinity, of the deified dead, or of a king or an emperor. In Latin, adoratio. Such representations are common in Greek vase-paintings and funeral sculptures, and in Roman reliefs and medals. The ancient adoration is usually characterized by the gesture of raising the right hand, particularly with the thumb laid on the first finger; though it is sometimes exhibited, chiefly in Oriental examples, in a prostrate position.
5. n. A method of electing a pope. See extract.

Wiktionary

1. n. countable An act of religious worship.
2. n. uncountable Admiration or esteem.
3. n. uncountable The act of adoring; loving devotion or fascination.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of playing honor to a divine being; the worship paid to God; the act of addressing as a god.
2. n. Homage paid to one in high esteem; profound veneration; intense regard and love; fervent devotion.
3. n. A method of electing a pope by the expression of homage from two thirds of the conclave.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a feeling of profound love and admiration
2. n. the act of admiring strongly
3. n. the worship given to God alone