thought the world of that girl

東野圭吾の "The Devotion of Suspect X" を読んでいます。
'Does a Mr Kuniaki Kudo come here often?' he asked next, changing his line of questioning.
'Mister Kudo? From the printing company?'
'That's right.'
'Quite often, yes. Though not so much recently.' Sugimura tilted her head.
'Has Mr Kudo done something?'
'No, no. We've just heard that he was one of Yasuko Hanaoka's regulars back when she was a hostess.'
Sugimura's lips softened and she nodded. 'He was. He thought the world of that girl.'
'Were they seeing each other outside the nightclub?'
刑事が容疑者が元ホステスとして働いていた時の馴染み客について探っているところです。
文脈から "thought the world of that girl" の意味は凡そ見当は付きますが、"though the world of" は慣用句の様なので辞書を見ます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: Have a very high regard for (someone): He thought the world of his sisters and brother.

・Collins Dictionary: to be extremely fond of or hold in very high esteem: Very quiet woman but a good worker, Mary and John think the world of her.

・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: to be very fond of someone or something: The old lady thinks the world of her cats.