Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Worship of demons.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The worship of evil spirits; the worship of evil personified as a devil.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The worship of demons.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Worship of demons.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the acts or rites of worshiping devils

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

demon +‎ -latry

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Examples

  • In pagan times when divining sacrifice was offered it was idolatry, and even now divination is a kind of demonolatry or devil worship (d'Annibale).

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 5: Diocese-Fathers of Mercy 1840-1916 1913

  • a feeble polytheism -- a kind of demonolatry; for, as good spirits do not injure one, one's whole time is given to the propitiation of the evil.

    Over the Rocky Mountains to Alaska Charles Warren Stoddard 1876

  • A more copious list can be given of the champions of orthodoxy and demonolatry; of whom it is sufficient to enumerate the more notorious names -- Sprenger, Nider, Bodin, Del Rio, James VI.,

    The Superstitions of Witchcraft Howard Williams

  • The Burmese are really as devoted to demonolatry as the hill-tribes who are labelled plain spirit-worshippers.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" Various

  • The followers of Calvin were most deeply imbued with hatred and horror of Catholic practices, and, adopting the old prejudice or policy of their antagonists, they were willing to confound the superstitious rites of Catholicism with those of demonolatry.

    The Superstitions of Witchcraft Howard Williams

  • It was pliant and amalgamated easily with local observances, in China with funeral rites, in Tibet with demonolatry.

    Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3 Charles Eliot 1896

  • Nepal and forms some counterpoise to the prevalent demonolatry.

    Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3 Charles Eliot 1896

  • [126] It was formerly suggested that the fact of the Mahars being the chief worshippers at the shrines of Sheikh Farid indicated that the places themselves had been previously held sacred, and had been annexed by the Muhammadan priests; and the legend of the giant, who might represent the demonolatry of the aboriginal faith, being slain by the saint might be a parable, so to say, expressing this process.

    The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume IV of IV Kumhar-Yemkala Robert Vane Russell 1894

  • The prevailing faith of the Dravidians, therefore, is demonolatry; and the myriad shrines in the villages and hamlets, and the daily rites conducted in them, attest the universal prevalence of this belief and the great place it has in the life of these so-called Hindus.

    India, Its Life and Thought 1881

  • When about thirty years old, he lost his wife and his only child; and finding no comfort in his ancestral demonolatry, he turned to Buddhism for relief and retired to a mountain retreat and became known and esteemed among his people as a devout ascetic and a holy man.

    India, Its Life and Thought 1881

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