Hŏn'or1, n.
(ŏn'ur), n. [O. Fr. honor, honour, hounour, N. Fr. honneur, Pr. honor, onor, Sp. & Pg. honor, It. onore, Lat. honor, honos.] [Written also honour.]
Sense 1. Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; consideration;—when said of the Supreme Being, reverence; veneration.
A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country. Matt. xiii. 57.
Sense 2. That which rightfully attracts esteem, respect, or consideration; that which is fitted to adorn; an ornament; a decoration;—especially, excellence of character; high moral worth; manly virtue; nobility;—and more particularly, in men, integrity; in women, purity, chastity. “If she have forgot honor and virtue.” Shak. “Godlike, erect, with native honor clad.” Milton.
The sire then shook the honors of his head. Dryden.
Sense 3. A nice sense of what is right, just, and true, with a course of life correspondent thereto.
Say, what is honor? ’Tis the finest sense Of justice which the human mind can frame, Intent each lurking frailty to disclaim, And guard the way of life from all offense Suffered or done. Wordsworth.
Sense 4. That to which esteem or consideration is paid; dignity; distinguished position; high rank; sometimes, reputation. “Restore me to my honors.” Shak.
I have given thee . . . both riches and honor. 1 Kings iii. 13.
Thou art clothed with honor and majesty. Ps. civ. 1.
Sense 5. A token of esteem paid to worth; a mark of respect; a sign of consideration; as, military honors; civil honors.
Their funeral honors claimed, and asked their quiet graves. Dryden.
Sense 6. (Feudal Law.) A noble kind of seignory or lordship, held of the king, and having several lordships and manors dependent on it. Cowell.
Sense 7. (pl.) Academic or university prizes or distinctions; especially, the highest ranks or places in an English university.
Sense 8. (pl.) (Card-playing.) The four highest cards—the ace, king, queen, and jack.
Court of honor, a court of chivalry; a court of civil and criminal jurisdiction, having power to redress injuries of honor, and to hold pleas respecting matters of arms and deeds of war.—Honor court (Feudal Law), one held in an honor.—Honors of war (Mil.), distinctions granted to a vanquished enemy, as of marching out from a camp or intrenchment with all the insignia of military etiquette.—Law or code of honor, certain rules by which social intercourse is regulated among persons of fashion, and which are founded on a regard to reputation. Paley.—On one’s honor, on the pledge of one’s honor; on the stake of one’s reputation for integrity; as, the members of the House of Lords, in Great Britain, are not under oath, but give their opinions on their honor.—To do the honors, to bestow honor, as on a guest; to show civility or attention.
Then here a slave, or, if you will, a lord, To do the honors, and to give the word. Pope.