lionised me

Isabella Birdは秋田県の久保田を訪れています。
The public buildings, with their fine gardens, and the broad road near which they stand, with its stone-faced embankments, are very striking in such a far-off hen. Among the finest of the buildings is the Normal School, where I shortly afterwards presented myself, but I was not admitted till I had shown my passport and explained my objects in travelling. These preliminaries being settled, Mr. Tomatsu Aoki, the Chief Director, and Mr. Shude Kane Nigishi, the principal teacher, both looking more like monkeys than men in their European clothes, lionised me.

"lionise" は久しぶりに見る単語です。（8/13/2008）辞書で復習します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Give a lot of public attention and approval to (someone); treat as a celebrity.: modern athletes are lionized
・Collins English Dictionary: If someone is lionized, they are treated as if they are very important or special by a particular group of people, often when they do not really deserve to be.: The press began to lionize him enthusiastically.
・Cambridge English Dictionary:to make someone famous, or to treat someone as if they were famous: Soldiers had a chance to become heroes; but no refugee was lionized.