2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Ordinance  \Or"di*nance\,  n.  [OE.  ordenance,  OF  ordenance,  F. 
  ordonnance.  See  {Ordain},  and  cf  {Ordnance},  {Ordonnance}.] 
  1.  Orderly  arrangement;  preparation;  provision.  [Obs.] 
  --Spenser. 
 
  They  had  made  their  ordinance  Of  victual,  and  of 
  other  purveyance.  --Chaucer. 
 
  2.  A  rule  established  by  authority;  a  permanent  rule  of 
  action  a  statute,  law,  regulation,  rescript,  or  accepted 
  usage;  an  edict  or  decree;  esp.,  a  local  law  enacted  by  a 
  municipal  government;  as  a  municipal  ordinance. 
 
  Thou  wilt  die  by  God's  just  ordinance.  --Shak. 
 
  By  custom  and  the  ordinance  of  times.  --Shak. 
 
  Walking  in  all  the  commandments  and  ordinances  of 
  the  Lord  blameless.  --Luke  i.  6. 
 
  Note:  Acts  of  Parliament  are  sometimes  called  ordinances; 
  also  certain  colonial  laws  and  certain  acts  of 
  Congress  under  Confederation;  as  the  ordinance  of  1787 
  for  the  government  of  the  territory  of  the  United 
  States  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River;  the  colonial 
  ordinance  of  1641,  or  1647.  This  word  is  often  used  in 
  Scripture  in  the  sense  of  a  law  or  statute  of  sovereign 
  power.  --Ex.  xv  25.  --Num.  x.  8.  --Ezra  iii.  10.  Its 
  most  frequent  application  now  in  the  United  States  is 
  to  laws  and  regulations  of  municipal  corporations. 
  --Wharton  (Law  Dict.). 
 
  3.  (Eccl.)  An  established  rite  or  ceremony. 
 
  4.  Rank;  order  station.  [Obs.]  --Shak. 
 
  5.  [See  {Ordnance}.]  Ordnance;  cannon.  [Obs.]  --Shak. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  ordinance 
  n  :  an  authoritative  rule  or  law  [syn:  {regulation}] 

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