ovation

• (US) IPA^(key): /oʊˈveɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

From Latin ovationem, accusative of ovatio, from ovo (“I exult”).

ovation (plural ovations)

1. Prolonged enthusiastic applause.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited.

2. (historical) In Ancient Rome, a victory ceremony of less importance than a triumph.

• standing ovation

ovation (uncountable)

1. (obsolete, rare) The act or state of laying eggs.
   • 1826, “The Sphex, or ichneumon wasp”, in Glasgow Mechanics' Magazine, and Annals of Philosophy:

     She continues the same labour till she has counted twelve, and deposited twelve caterpillars, one over another; and thus repeats the process of ovation and supply, till she has exhausted herself of her entire stock of eggs.

   • 1844, “February 28, Rev. Humphrey Lloyd, D. D., Vice-President, in the Chair”, in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy (1841), page 222:

     Having considered their animal nature, and their primary formation, as involving the question of spontaneous generation, he described generally the methods of reproduction adopted in this class of animals, ad adduced the explanations and opinions offered by the best authorities on the subject, but particularly those of Bremner, Lænnec, and Owen, by which acephalocystic reproduction is referred to imperfect ovation or generation.

   • 1892, Frederick Vincent Theobald, An Account of British Flies (Diptera), page 203:

     Parthenogenetic reproduction, as a rule, takes place in the summer months, as seen in the Aphides, Crustacea (Daphnia), and Cecidomyiæ, where we see the asexual reproduction taking place during the summer, and at the approach of cold weather the process of ovation taking its place.

From Latin ovatio.

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ovation f (plural ovations)

1. ovation

• “ovation” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).