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The tendency to give undue importance to material interests; devotion to the material nature and its wants.

The method or spirit of the Middle Ages; devotion to the institutions and practices of the Middle Ages; a survival from the Middle Ages. [Written also medievalism.]

A woman regarded with love and devotion; she who has command over one's heart; a beloved object; a sweetheart. [Poetic] Clarendon.

y. Shak. Grace at meals is now generally so performed as to look more like a mockery upon devotion than any solemn application of the mind to God. Law. And bear about the mockery of woe. Pope.

The doctrine of the Mystics, who professed a pure, sublime, and wholly disinterested devotion, and maintained that they had direct intercourse with the divine Spirit, and aquired a knowledge of God and of spiritual things unattainable by the natural intellect, and such as can not be analyzed or explained.…

, to abstain from wine and strong drink, and to practice extraordinary purity of life and devotion, the obligation being for life, or for a certain time. The word is also used adjectively.

An office of devotion, or act of religious service, by night.

To present, as an act of worship; to immolate; to sacrifice; to present in prayer or devotion; -- often with up. Thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement. Ex. xxix. 36. A holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices. 1 Pet. ii. 5.

A place of orisons, or prayer; especially, 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 N…

Devotion to the interests of one's own kingdom or province rather than to those of the empire.

Devotion to party.

Love of country; devotion to the welfare of one's country; the virtues and actions of a patriot; the passion which inspires one to serve one's country. Berkley.

Hence: Mechanical; indifferent; listless; careless. "Perfunctory in his devotions." Sharp.

of; hence, to counterfeit; to feign; as, he tried to personate his brother; a personated devotion. Hammond.

Strict devotion; also, affectation of devotion. The Schöne Seele, that ideal of gentle pietism, in "Wilhelm Meister." W. Pater.

upreme Being, and love of his character; loving obedience to the will of God, and earnest devotion to his service. Piety is the only proper and adequate relief of decaying man. Rambler.

hich were published immediately after his death. Bp. Fell. Prayer book, a book containing devotional prayers. -- Prayer meeting, a meeting or gathering for prayer to God.

Given to prayer; praying much or often; devotional. "The prayerful man." J. S. Blackie. -- Prayer"ful*ly, adv. -- Prayer"ful*ness, n.

Devotion to, or persistence in, conditions of the primordial state. H. Spencer.

The use of psalms in devotion; psalmody.