honor, honour, honure (silent)

[O. Fr. honour, honeur; from Lat. honorem, acc us. of honos honor; Fr. honneur; Sp. & Port. honor.] I. Ordinary Language : 1. Respect, esteem, or high estimation; reverence, reputation. "Honor and shame were scarcely more to him than light and darkne to the blind." - Macaulay : Hist. Eng., ch. ii. 2. Reputation, fame, good name. "Mine honor is my life; both grow in one." Shakesp.: Richard II., i. 1. 3. Respect, reverence; due veneration or test i mony, token, or act of esteem. "And therefore travelers step from out their way To pay him honor." Byron: Church ill's Grave. 4. High rank, dignity, distinction, position; exalted place or position; the privileges of rank or birth. "Confer fair Milan, with all the honors on my brother." Shakesp.: Tempest, i. 2. 5. Dignity of mien or appearance. "Thou art clothed with honor and majesty."- Psalm civ. 1. 6. Noblene of mind, probity, moral rectitude, personal integrity, uprightne ; a nice sense of what is right. 7. Chastity, purity, modesty. "To violate the honor of my child." Shakesp.: Tempest , i. 2. 2. Law : A seigniory of several manors, held under one baron or lord-paramount. ( Eng .) 3. Universities ( pl .): The first or highest cla in an examination; as, He went out in honors . 1. An affair of honor : A dispute to be decided by or involving a duel or single combat. 2. A debt of honor : A debt, as money lost in gambling, which cannot be recovered by legal proce , but the payment of which depends solely upon the honor and good faith of the person owing it. 3. A point of honor : A scruple arising from delicacy of feeling, on which depends the course to be pursued in certain cases. 4. Word of honor : A verbal promise or engagement by which one pledges his honor or good faith. 5. Court of honor : A court or tribunal for hearing and determining questions relating to the laws of honor, and for deciding on and correcting encroachments in matters of precedence, coat-armor, . Originally it was a court of chivalry. ( Eng .) 6. Maid of honor: (1) Lit .: A lady who attends upon the Queen when she appears in public. ( Eng .) (2) Fig .: A name given to a kind of cheese-cake mad at Richmond, in Surrey, England. 7. Honors of war: A distinction or privilege granted to a beaten enemy, as, to march out of a town or camp armed, and with colors flying. 8. On or upon one's honor : A declaration pledging one's honor or reputation to the truth, accuracy, or good faith of a statement. 9. Honor bright ! A vulgar form of pledging one's honor. 10. Honor court: Eng . Law : A court held within an honor or seigniory. 11. To do the honors: To act as master or mistre at a dinner, reception, .