ovation

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Enthusiastic, prolonged applause.
• noun A show of public homage or welcome.
• noun An ancient Roman victory ceremony of somewhat less importance than a triumph.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In Roman antiquity, a lesser triumph accorded to commanders who had conquered with little bloodshed, who had defeated a comparatively inconsiderable enemy, or whose advantage, although considerable, was not sufficient to constitute a legitimate claim to the higher distinction of a triumph. See triumph.
• noun An enthusiastic reception of a person by an assembly or concourse of people with acclamations and other spontaneous expressions of popularity; enthusiastic public homage.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Rom. Antiq.) A lesser kind of triumph allowed to a commander for an easy, bloodless victory, or a victory over slaves.
• noun An expression of popular homage; the tribute of the multitude to a public favorite.
• noun A prolonged applause for a person of group after a speech or performance.
• noun a prolonged applause during which the audience stands as a sign of special appreciation or admiration.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun prolonged enthusiastic applause
• noun a victory ceremony of less importance than a triumph

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun enthusiastic recognition (especially one accompanied by loud applause)