Ob-sĕrv'ance, n.
n. [Lat. observantia, Fr. observance, Pr. & Sp. observancia, It. osservanza.]
Sense 1. The act of observing or noticing with attention; fidelity of performance; attention; tokens or marks of fidelity.
O that I wasted time to tend upon her, To compass her with sweet observances! Tennyson.
Sense 2. That which is to be observed or attended to; rule of practice.
Use all the observance of civility. Shak.
Sense 3. Performance of religious ceremonies, or formal service.
Some represent to themselves the whole of religion as consisting in a few easy observances. Rogers.
Sense 4. Servile attention; hence, also, sycophancy. [Obs.]
Salads and flesh, such as their haste could get, Served with observance. Chapman.
This is not atheism, But court observance. Beau. & Fl.
Synonyms—OBSERVANCE, OBSERVATION. These words branch out from two distinct senses of observe. 1. To observe means to keep strictly; as, to observe the Sabbath; and hence, observance denotes the keeping of a rule or law with strictness; as, the observance of the Sabbath, &c. 2. To observe means to consider attentively, or remark; and hence, observation denotes either the act of observing, or some remark made as the result thereof. Hence, we ought not to say the observation of the Sabbath, &c., though the word was formerly so used. The Pharisees were curious in external observances; the astronomers are curious in celestial observations.
Love rigid honesty, And strict observance of impartial laws. Roscommon.