from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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.
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2. The mass; the common run. [Obs.]
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I see no more in you than in the ordinary
Of nature's salework. --Shak.
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3. That which is so common, or continued, as to be considered
a settled establishment or institution. [R.]
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Spain had no other wars save those which were grown
into an ordinary. --Bacon.
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4. Anything which is in ordinary or common use.
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Water buckets, wagons, cart wheels, plow socks, and
other ordinaries. --Sir W.
Scott.
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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.
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All the odd words they have picked up in a
coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as
flowers of style. --Swift.
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He exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and
peddlers and to ordinaries. --Bancroft.
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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}.
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{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}.
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