worship

• wurship (obsolete)

From Middle English worschippe, worthschipe, from Old English weorþscipe, corresponding to worth (“worthy, honorable”) +‎ -ship. Cognate with Scots worschip (“worship”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɜːʃɪp/, /ˈwɔːʃɪp/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈwɝʃɪp/, /ˈwɔɹʃɪp/

• Audio (US)

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worship (usually uncountable, plural worships)

1. (obsolete) The condition of being worthy; honour, distinction.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xxiij, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:

     I will be on horsbak said the knyght / thenne was Arthur wrothe and dressid his sheld toward hym with his swerd drawen / whan the knyght sawe that / he a lyghte / for hym thought no worship to haue a knyght at suche auaille he to be on horsbak and he on foot and so he alyght & dressid his sheld vnto Arthur

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.3:

     Then he forth on his journey did proceede, / To seeke adventures which mote him befall, / And win him worship through his warlike deed […].

2. The devotion accorded to a deity or to a sacred object.
3. The religious ceremonies that express this devotion.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Tillotson

     The worship of God is an eminent part of religion, and prayer is a chief part of religious worship.

4. (by extension) Voluntary, utter submission; voluntary, utter deference.
5. (also by extension) Ardent love.
6. An object of worship.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

     In attitude and aspect formed to be / At once the artist's worship and despair.

7. Honour; respect; civil deference.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Edmund Spenser

     of which great worth and worship may be won

   • Bible, Luke xiv. 10

     Then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.

• adoration
• reverence
• idolatry

worship (third-person singular simple present worships, present participle (UK) worshipping or (US) worshiping, simple past and past participle (UK) worshipped or (US) worshiped)

1. (transitive) To reverence (a deity, etc.) with supreme respect and veneration; to perform religious exercises in honour of.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare

     God is to be worshipped.

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones.

2. (transitive) To honour with extravagant love and extreme submission, as a lover; to adore; to idolize.
   • 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 8, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 251:

     'All the household worshipped her.'

   • (Can we date this quote?) Carew

     With bended knees I daily worship her.

3. (intransitive) To participate in religious ceremonies.

   We worship at the church down the road.