catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  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.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The mass; the common run. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              I see no more in you than in the ordinary
              Of nature's salework.                 --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. That which is so common, or continued, as to be considered
        a settled establishment or institution. [R.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Spain had no other wars save those which were grown
              into an ordinary.                     --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Anything which is in ordinary or common use.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Water buckets, wagons, cart wheels, plow socks, and
              other ordinaries.                     --Sir W.
                                                    Scott.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              All the odd words they have picked up in a
              coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as
              flowers of style.                     --Swift.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and
              peddlers and to ordinaries.           --Bancroft.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]

  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.