REV'ERENCE, n. [L. reverentia.]

1. Fear mingled with respect and esteem; veneration. When quarrels and factions are carried openly, it is a sign that the reverence of government is lost. – Bacon. The fear acceptable to God, is an awful fear, an awful reverence of the divine nature, proceeding from a just esteem of his perfections, which produces in us an inclination to his service and an unwillingness to offend him. – Rogers. Reverence is nearly equivalent to veneration, but expresses something less of the same emotion. It differs from awe, which is an emotion compounded of fear, dread or terror, with admiration of something great, but not necessarily implying love or affection. We feel reverence for a partent, and for upright magistrate, but we stand in awe of a tyrant. This distinction may not always he observed.
2. An act of respect or obeisance; a bow or courtesy. – 2 Sam. ix. Dryden. Fairfax.
3. A title of the clergy. – Shak.
4. A poetical title of a father. – Shak.

To regard with reverence; to regard with fear mingled with respect and affection. We reverence superiors for their age, their authority and their virtues. We ought to reverence parents and upright judges and magistrates. We ought to reverence the Supreme Being, his word and his ordinances. Those that I reverence, those I fear, the wise. – Shak. They will reverence my son. – Matth. xxi. Let the wife see that she reverence her husband. – Eph. v.

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. 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.

3. 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.

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

   I am forced to lay my reverence by. Shak.

5. 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.