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ordinary |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Ordinary \Or"di*na*ry\, a. [L. ordinarius, fr ordo, ordinis order: cf F. ordinaire See {Order}.] 1. According to established order methodical; settled; regular. ``The ordinary forms of law.'' --Addison. 2. Common; customary; usual. --Shak. Method is not less reguisite in ordinary conversation that in writing. --Addison. 3. Of common rank, quality, or ability; not distinguished by superior excellence or beauty; hence not distinguished in any way commonplace; inferior; of little merit; as men of ordinary judgment; an ordinary book. An ordinary lad would have acquired little or no useful knowledge in such a way --Macaulay. {Ordinary seaman} (Naut.), one not expert or fully skilled, and hence ranking below an able seaman. Syn: Normal; common; usual; customary. Usage: See {Normal}. -- {Ordinary}, {Common}. A thing is common in which many persons share or partake; as a common practice. A thing is ordinary when it is apt to come round in the regular common order or succession of events. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Ordinary \Or"di*na*ry\, n.; pl {Ordinaries} (-r[i^]z). 1. (Law) a (Roman Law) An officer who has original jurisdiction in his own right and not by deputation. b (Eng. Law) One who has immediate jurisdiction in matters ecclesiastical; an ecclesiastical judge; also a deputy of the bishop, or a clergyman appointed to perform divine service for condemned criminals and assist in preparing them for death. c (Am. Law) A judicial officer, having generally the powers of a judge of probate or a surrogate. 2. The mass; the common run. [Obs.] I see no more in you than in the ordinary Of nature's salework. --Shak. 3. That which is so common, or continued, as to be considered a settled establishment or institution. [R.] Spain had no other wars save those which were grown into an ordinary. --Bacon. 4. Anything which is in ordinary or common use Water buckets, wagons, cart wheels, plow socks, and other ordinaries. --Sir W. Scott. 5. A dining room or eating house where a meal is prepared for all comers, at a fixed price for the meal, in distinction from one where each dish is separately charged; a table d'h[^o]te; hence also the meal furnished at such a dining room --Shak. All the odd words they have picked up in a coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as flowers of style. --Swift. He exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and peddlers and to ordinaries. --Bancroft. 6. (Her.) A charge or bearing of simple form one of nine or ten which are in constant use The bend, chevron, chief, cross, fesse, pale, and saltire are uniformly admitted as ordinaries. Some authorities include bar, bend sinister, pile, and others See {Subordinary}. {In ordinary}. a In actual and constant service; statedly attending and serving; as a physician or chaplain in ordinary. An ambassador in ordinary is one constantly resident at a foreign court. b (Naut.) Out of commission and laid up -- said of a naval vessel. {Ordinary of the Mass} (R. C. Ch.), the part of the Mass which is the same every day -- called also the {canon of the Mass}. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: ordinary adj 1: not exceptional in any way especially in quality or ability or size or degree; "ordinary everyday objects"; "ordinary decency"; "an ordinary day"; "an ordinary wine" [ant: {extraordinary}] 2: lacking special distinction, rank, or status; commonly encountered; "average people"; "the ordinary (or common) man in the street" [syn: {average}] n 1: a judge of a probate court 2: the expected or commonplace condition or situation: "not out of the ordinary" 3: a clergyman appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for death 4: an early bicycle with a very large front wheel and small back wheel [syn: {ordinary bicycle}] 5: (heraldry) any of several conventional figures used on shields
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