hero worship
    n 1: admiration for great men (or their memory)

Worship \Wor"ship\, n. [OE. worshipe, wur[eth]scipe, AS.
   weor[eth]scipe; weor[eth] worth + -scipe -ship. See Worth,
   a., and -ship.]
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   1. Excellence of character; dignity; worth; worthiness.
      [Obs.] --Shak.
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            A man of worship and honour.          --Chaucer.
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            Elfin, born of noble state,
            And muckle worship in his native land. --Spenser.
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   2. Honor; respect; civil deference. [Obs.]
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            Of which great worth and worship may be won.
                                                  --Spenser.
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            Then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them
            that sit at meat with thee.           --Luke xiv.
                                                  10.
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   3. Hence, a title of honor, used in addresses to certain
      magistrates and others of rank or station.
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            My father desires your worships' company. --Shak.
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   4. The act of paying divine honors to the Supreme Being;
      religious reverence and homage; adoration, or acts of
      reverence, paid to God, or a being viewed as God. "God
      with idols in their worship joined." --Milton.
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            The worship of God is an eminent part of religion,
            and prayer is a chief part of religious worship.
                                                  --Tillotson.
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   5. Obsequious or submissive respect; extravagant admiration;
      adoration.
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            'T is your inky brows, your black silk hair,
            Your bugle eyeballs, nor your cheek of cream,
            That can my spirits to your worship.  --Shak.
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   6. An object of worship.
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            In attitude and aspect formed to be
            At once the artist's worship and despair.
                                                  --Longfellow.
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   Devil worship, Fire worship, Hero worship, etc. See
      under Devil, Fire, Hero, etc.
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Hero \He"ro\ (h[=e]"r[-o]), n.; pl. Heroes (h[=e]"r[=o]z). [F.
   h['e]ros, L. heros, Gr. "h`rws.]
   1. (Myth.) An illustrious man, supposed to be exalted, after
      death, to a place among the gods; a demigod, as Hercules.
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   2. A man of distinguished valor or enterprise in danger, or
      fortitude in suffering; a prominent or central personage
      in any remarkable action or event; hence, a great or
      illustrious person.
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            Each man is a hero and oracle to somebody.
                                                  --Emerson.
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   3. The principal personage in a poem, story, and the like, or
      the person who has the principal share in the transactions
      related; as Achilles in the Iliad, Ulysses in the Odyssey,
      and Aeneas in the Aeneid.
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            The shining quality of an epic hero.  --Dryden.
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   Hero worship, extravagant admiration for great men, likened
      to the ancient worship of heroes.
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            Hero worship exists, has existed, and will forever
            exist, universally among mankind.     --Carlyle.
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