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eping with care; performance; -- usually with a sense of strictness and fidelity; as, the observance of the Sabbath is general; the strict observance of duties. It is a custom More honored in the breach than the observance. Shak.

Want or neglect of observance. Bacon.

Neglect or failure to observe or fulfill.

Want or neglect of observance; inobservance. Whitlock.

One of a sect which opposes the observance of the Christian Sabbath.

A festival of the heathen Celts on the first day of May, in the observance of which great bonfires were kindled. It still exists in a modified form in some parts of Scotland and Ireland.

decorums of social life; manners; knowledge of, or training in, the ceremonies, or polite observances of society. Delicacy of breeding, or that polite deference and respect which civility obliges us either to express or counterfeit towards the persons with whom we converse. Hume.

remony, or external rite; ritual; according to the forms of established rites. Ceremonial observances and outward show. Hallam.

of ceremonies, an officer who determines the forms to be observed, or superintends their observance, on a public occasion. -- Not to stand on ceremony, not to be ceremonious; to be familiar, outspoken, or bold.

To call to remembrance by a special act or observance; to celebrate with honor and solemnity; to honor, as a person or event, by some act of respect of affection, intended to preserve the remembrance of the person or event; as, to commemorate the sufferings and dying love of our Savior by the sacrament of the Lord's Su…

The act of commemorating; an observance or celebration designed to honor the memory of some person or event. This sacrament was designed to be a standing commemoration of the death and passion of our Lord. Abp. Tillotson. The commonwealth which . . . chooses the most flagrant act of murderous regicide treason for a fea…

oved beyong his custom, Gama said. Tennyson. A custom More honored in the breach than the observance. Shak.

lity; becoming ceremony; seemliness; hence, freedom from obscenity or indecorum; modesty. Observances of time, place, and of decency in general. Burke. Immodest words admit of no defense, For want of decency is want of sense. Roscommon.

with regard to order and obedience; one who enforces rigid discipline; a stickler for the observance of rules and methods of training; as, he is a better disciplinarian than scholar.

by good breeding, or prescribed by authority, to be observed in social or official life; observance of the proprieties of rank and occasion; conventional decorum; ceremonial code of polite society. The pompous etiquette to the court of Louis the Fourteenth. Prescott.

Careful observance of method and conformity to truth; as, exactness in accounts or business. He had . . . that sort of exactness which would have made him a respectable antiquary. Macaulay.

w, be ties of love, gratitude, or honor, as to a husband, a prince, a friend; firm in the observance of duty; loyal; of true fidelity; as, a faithful husband or servant. So spake the seraph Abdiel, faithful found, Among the faithless, faithful only he. Milton.

Faithfulness; adherence to right; careful and exact observance of duty, or discharge of obligations. Especially:

Careful observance of, or conformity to, the laws of God; the state or quality of being godly; piety. Godliness is profitable unto all things. 1 Tim. iv. 8.

as they honor the Father. John v. 23. It is a custom More honor'd in the breach than the observance. Shak.