homage

Etymology

From Middle English homage, from Old French homage, hommage, from Medieval Latin homināticum (“homage, the service of a vassal or 'man'”), from Latin homō (“a man, in Medieval Latin a vassal”) + -āticum (noun-forming suffix). The American pronunciations in /-ɑːʒ/ and with silent h are due to confusion with the nearly synonymous doublet hommage, which is indeed pronounced /oʊˈmɑːʒ/.

noun

1. (countable, uncountable) A demonstration of respect, such as towards an individual after their retirement or death
   It’s appropriate that we pay homage to them and the sacrifices they made. 2006, New York Times
   My rainy-day tour in April during the first lockdown was, in fact, a homage to Sir John Betjeman - the poet and railway campaigner whose statue can be found on the upper concourse of St Pancras station. January 13 2021, Christian Wolmar, “Read all about London's Cathedrals of Steam”, in RAIL, issue 922, page 62
2. (countable) An artistic work imitating another in a flattering style.
   He likes to tell people that it's a Hitchcockian thriller, but that's kind of like saying Happy Gilmore is a homage to Woody Allen. 2002, Kevin Williamson, Dawson's Creek (TV, episode 6.01)
3. (historical) In feudalism, the formal oath of a vassal to honor his or her lord's rights.
   We'll do thee homage, and be rul'd by thee, Love thee as our commander and our king. 1593, William Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona

verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To pay reverence to by external action.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To cause to pay homage.
   The Austrian Crowns and Romes seven Hills she shook; >br>To her great Neptune Homag'd all his Streams 1641, Abraham Cowley, A Poem on the Civil War