noun.
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.
noun.
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.
noun.
In art and archaeology: A representation of the adoration of the infant Jesus by the magi or the shepherds.
noun.
A representation of the worship of an ancient divinity, of the deified dead, or of a king or an emperor. In Latin, adoratio.
noun.
A method of electing a pope. See extract.