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ordinance |
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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