Concise Oxford Tenth Edition:
cult
· n.
1 a system of religious devotion directed towards a particular figure or object. Ø a relatively small religious group regarded by others as strange or as imposing excessive control over members.
2 something popular or fashionable among a particular section of society.
– DERIVATIVES cultic adj. cultish adj. cultishness n. cultism n. cultist n.
– ORIGIN C17: from Fr. culte or L. cultus ‘worship’.