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an ominous dread. He had a good ominous name to have made a peace. Bacon. In the heathen worship of God, a sacrifice without a heart was accounted ominous. South. -- Om"i*nous*ly, adv. -- Om"i*nous*ness, n.

The worship of serpents.

Serpent worship or the use of serpents as magical agencies.

A mamber of a Gnostic serpent-worshiping sect of the second century.

lly, a chapel or small room set apart for private devotions. An oratory [temple] . . . in worship of Dian. Chaucer. Do not omit thy prayers for want of a good oratory, or place to pray in. Jer. Taylor. Fathers of the Oratory (R. C. Ch.), a society of priests founded by St. Philip Neri, living in community, and not boun…

of some pagan deity; especially, the ceremonies observed by the Greeks and Romans in the worship of Dionysus, or Bacchus, which were characterized by wild and dissolute revelry. As when, with crowned cups, unto the Elian god, Those priests high orgies held. Drayton.

church so that the chancel, containing the altar toward which the congregation fronts in worship, will be on the east end.

A divinity worshiped by the ancient Peruvians as the creator of the universe.

One who worships false goods; an idolater; a heathen; one who is neither a Christian, a Mohammedan, nor a Jew. Neither having the accent of Christians, nor the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man. Shak.

The state of being pagan; pagan characteristics; esp., the worship of idols or false gods, or the system of religious opinions and worship maintained by pagans; heathenism.

sts of India, Farther India, China, and Japan, -- usually but not always, devoted to idol worship.

es and ceremonies; pertaining to popery; popish; -- used disparagingly. "The old papistic worship." T. Warton. -- Pa*pis"tic*al*ly, adv.

ian or ancient Persian religion, descended from Persian refugees settled in India; a fire worshiper; a Gheber.

harass, punish, or put to death, for adherence to a particular religious creed or mode of worship. Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. Matt. v. 44.

ly, the infliction of loss, pain, or death for adherence to a particular creed or mode of worship. Persecution produces no sincere conviction. Paley.

The worship of the generative principle in nature, symbolized by the phallus.

emblem of the generative power in nature, carried in procession in the Bacchic orgies, or worshiped in various ways.

The worship of the powers or agencies of nature; materialism in religion; nature worship. "The physiolatry of the Vedas." M. Williams.

an plains, or prairies. Descending fro the mountain into playn. Chaucer. Him the Ammonite Worshiped in Rabba and her watery plain. Milton.

heism; characterized by polytheism; professing or advocating polytheism; as, polytheistic worship; a polytheistic author, or nation. -- Pol`y*the*is"tic*al*ly, adv.