To revere someone or something is to respect and admire them very deeply, almost with a kind of quiet awe. People revere great teachers, writers, religious figures, or old customs. It is a formal verb; you would not use it for a classmate you merely like. It often appears as is revered: “She is revered as the founder of the hospital.” It was borrowed from French révérer, and further back from Latin revereor, built from re- plus vereor, “to fear” or “to stand in awe” — so the old heart of the word is closer to awe than to ordinary liking. It is not the surname in Paul Revere, and it is not reverse.