worshipful

adj

1. Tending to worship; showing reverence.

   “We do want to worship in a worshipful way, not just going through the motions, being entertained, or catching up with friends, but "in spirit and in truth, lost in wonder, love and praise." And then when we're not in church, we really long to live a worshipful life, to discover the comforts and challenges of God out in the real world, […]”

2. (archaic)Entitled to dignity or respect; distinguished, respected, illustrious.

   “[H]owe Dorbell comes to bee doctour none aſks, but doctour hee muſt bee to make him right worſhipfull.”

   “Now for a sealing and making fast of this solemn covenant between you I see no likelier rede than that ye all join with me here this day in good friendship to forget your quarrels in drinking of the arvale of King Gorice XI., than whom hath reigned none mightier nor more worshipful in all this world, and thereafter depart in peace to your native lands.”

3. (British)Used as respectful form of address or honorific title for a person or body of persons, now especially in the name of a livery company.

   “To my most dredfull and Sovereigne lige Lord, I youre humble lige beseche to yowre Hyness to have in remembrance my comyng to yowre worshipful presence into York of my free will, […]”

   “At a Common Council, held in the Chamber of the Guildhall of the city of London, on Friday the 15th day of December, 1769, it was ordered, that the thanks of this Court be given to the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers for their generosity in giving up part of their ground on Snow Hill for the benefit of the public highway.”

   “The writer of theſe epiſtles is ſome philoſopher of the once well known Peter Annett's ſchool; who, wiſhing, as we may conclude, to try a revival of his tenets, without delivering them in his own proper character, has done the worſhipful fraternity of Free Maſons, the honour of imputing them to an ancient colony of the brethren, which he has diſcovered in a fertile ſpot, inſulated in the remote boſom of the ſandy deſerts of Africa.”

   “[…] Mowbray, as Duke Theseus, stepped before the screen, and announcing the conclusion of the dramatic pictures which they had had the honour to present before the worshipful company, thanked the spectators for the very favourable reception which they have afforded; […]”

   “Your Worshipful Master has been pleased to speak of me as possessing some powers of speech, but (added his lordship in tones of deep emotion) I have none.”

4. Worthy of worship.

   “But the Stoics and the poet Virgil came near to the Christian belief that God is light, and everlasting light. And is not light also ‘mystery’? Yes, unfathomable, worshipful! Lumen adorabile!”

   “The worshipful, then, whatever else it may be, is something mysterious and supernatural. But of course the converse is not true. What is mysterious or supernatural need not be worshipful.”

noun

1. (obsolete)One who is respected or distinguished.

   “I was attended to the Guild-hall by the mayor, the chamberlain and ſome more worſhipfuls; but when I entered the grand magazine of imposition, I was prejudiced in favour of their modeſty in concealing of it—the floor being ſtrewed with fragments of obſolete records, cobwebs and ſpiders in all quarters, […]”

   “Damn the worshipful lady, and all other worshipfuls! There’ll be no more worshipfuls here! I’ll give way to no one before my own shop!”

   “Again there are too many lawyers and doctors and priests and elders and bishops and cardinals and worshipfuls, and we shall now proclaim that the time has come for the wise to cast these idols to the moles and bats, […]”

2. (obsolete)A magistrate (specifically).