Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ZEAL, n. [Gr. ζηλος; L. zelus.]

Passionate ardor in the pursuit of any thing. Excessive zeal may rise to enthusiasm. In general, zeal is an eagerness of desire to accomplish or obtain some object, and it may be manifested either in favor of any person or thing, or in opposition to it, and in a good or bad cause. Zeal, the blind conductor of the will. – Dryden. They have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Rom. x. A zeal for liberty is sometimes an eagerness to subvert, with little care what shall be established. – Johnson.