Love extremely avid speech (9)
I believe the answer is:
adoration
'love' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'extremely avid speech' is the wordplay.
'extremely' suggests removing the centre.
'speech' becomes 'oration' (oration is a kind of speech**).
'avid' with its centre taken out is 'ad'.
'ad'+'oration'='ADORATION'
(Other definitions for adoration that I've seen before include "Great affection" , "What star gets from fans" , "Worship, veneration" , "Honour" , "Deep love and respect" .)