natural order

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
natural order
    n 1: the physical universe considered as an orderly system
         subject to natural (not human or supernatural) laws
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Order \Or"der\, n. [OE. ordre, F. ordre, fr. L. ordo, ordinis.
   Cf. {Ordain}, {Ordinal}.]
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   1. Regular arrangement; any methodical or established
      succession or harmonious relation; method; system; as:
      (a) Of material things, like the books in a library.
      (b) Of intellectual notions or ideas, like the topics of a
          discource.
      (c) Of periods of time or occurrences, and the like.
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                The side chambers were . . . thirty in order.
                                                  --Ezek. xli.
                                                  6.
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                Bright-harnessed angels sit in order
                serviceable.                      --Milton.
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                Good order is the foundation of all good things.
                                                  --Burke.
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   2. Right arrangement; a normal, correct, or fit condition;
      as, the house is in order; the machinery is out of order.
      --Locke.
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   3. The customary mode of procedure; established system, as in
      the conduct of debates or the transaction of business;
      usage; custom; fashion. --Dantiel.
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            And, pregnant with his grander thought,
            Brought the old order into doubt.     --Emerson.
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   4. Conformity with law or decorum; freedom from disturbance;
      general tranquillity; public quiet; as, to preserve order
      in a community or an assembly.
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   5. That which prescribes a method of procedure; a rule or
      regulation made by competent authority; as, the rules and
      orders of the senate.
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            The church hath authority to establish that for an
            order at one time which at another time it may
            abolish.                              --Hooker.
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   6. A command; a mandate; a precept; a direction.
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            Upon this new fright, an order was made by both
            houses for disarming all the papists in England.
                                                  --Clarendon.
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   7. Hence: A commission to purchase, sell, or supply goods; a
      direction, in writing, to pay money, to furnish supplies,
      to admit to a building, a place of entertainment, or the
      like; as, orders for blankets are large.
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            In those days were pit orders -- beshrew the
            uncomfortable manager who abolished them. --Lamb.
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   8. A number of things or persons arranged in a fixed or
      suitable place, or relative position; a rank; a row; a
      grade; especially, a rank or class in society; a group or
      division of men in the same social or other position;
      also, a distinct character, kind, or sort; as, the higher
      or lower orders of society; talent of a high order.
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            They are in equal order to their several ends.
                                                  --Jer. Taylor.
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            Various orders various ensigns bear.  --Granville.
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            Which, to his order of mind, must have seemed little
            short of crime.                       --Hawthorne.
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   9. A body of persons having some common honorary distinction
      or rule of obligation; esp., a body of religious persons
      or aggregate of convents living under a common rule; as,
      the Order of the Bath; the Franciscan order.
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            Find a barefoot brother out,
            One of our order, to associate me.    --Shak.
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            The venerable order of the Knights Templars. --Sir
                                                  W. Scott.
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   10. An ecclesiastical grade or rank, as of deacon, priest, or
       bishop; the office of the Christian ministry; -- often
       used in the plural; as, to take orders, or to take holy
       orders, that is, to enter some grade of the ministry.
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   11. (Arch.) The disposition of a column and its component
       parts, and of the entablature resting upon it, in
       classical architecture; hence (as the column and
       entablature are the characteristic features of classical
       architecture) a style or manner of architectural
       designing.
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   Note: The Greeks used three different orders, easy to
         distinguish, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. The Romans
         added the Tuscan, and changed the Doric so that it is
         hardly recognizable, and also used a modified
         Corinthian called Composite. The Renaissance writers on
         architecture recognized five orders as orthodox or
         classical, -- Doric (the Roman sort), Ionic, Tuscan,
         Corinthian, and Composite. See Illust. of {Capital}.
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   12. (Nat. Hist.) An assemblage of genera having certain
       important characters in common; as, the Carnivora and
       Insectivora are orders of Mammalia.
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   Note: The Linnaean artificial orders of plants rested mainly
         on identity in the numer of pistils, or agreement in
         some one character. Natural orders are groups of genera
         agreeing in the fundamental plan of their flowers and
         fruit. A natural order is usually (in botany)
         equivalent to a family, and may include several tribes.
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   13. (Rhet.) The placing of words and members in a sentence in
       such a manner as to contribute to force and beauty or
       clearness of expression.
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   14. (Math.) Rank; degree; thus, the order of a curve or
       surface is the same as the degree of its equation.
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   {Artificial order} or {Artificial system}. See {Artificial
      classification}, under {Artificial}, and Note to def. 12
      above.

   {Close order} (Mil.), the arrangement of the ranks with a
      distance of about half a pace between them; with a
      distance of about three yards the ranks are in {open
      order}.

   {The four Orders}, {The Orders four}, the four orders of
      mendicant friars. See {Friar}. --Chaucer.

   {General orders} (Mil.), orders issued which concern the
      whole command, or the troops generally, in distinction
      from {special orders}.

   {Holy orders}.
       (a) (Eccl.) The different grades of the Christian
           ministry; ordination to the ministry. See def. 10
           above.
       (b) (R. C. Ch.) A sacrament for the purpose of conferring
           a special grace on those ordained.

   {In order to}, for the purpose of; to the end; as means to.

            The best knowledge is that which is of greatest use
            in order to our eternal happiness.    --Tillotson.

   {Minor orders} (R. C. Ch.), orders beneath the diaconate in
      sacramental dignity, as acolyte, exorcist, reader,
      doorkeeper.

   {Money order}. See under {Money}.

   {Natural order}. (Bot.) See def. 12, Note.

   {Order book}.
       (a) A merchant's book in which orders are entered.
       (b) (Mil.) A book kept at headquarters, in which all
           orders are recorded for the information of officers
           and men.
       (c) A book in the House of Commons in which proposed
           orders must be entered. [Eng.]

   {Order in Council}, a royal order issued with and by the
      advice of the Privy Council. [Great Britain]

   {Order of battle} (Mil.), the particular disposition given to
      the troops of an army on the field of battle.

   {Order of the day}, in legislative bodies, the special
      business appointed for a specified day.

   {Order of a differential equation} (Math.), the greatest
      index of differentiation in the equation.

   {Sailing orders} (Naut.), the final instructions given to the
      commander of a ship of war before a cruise.

   {Sealed orders}, orders sealed, and not to be opened until a
      certain time, or arrival at a certain place, as after a
      ship is at sea.

   {Standing order}.
       (a) A continuing regulation for the conduct of
           parliamentary business.
       (b) (Mil.) An order not subject to change by an officer
           temporarily in command.

   {To give order}, to give command or directions. --Shak.

   {To take order for}, to take charge of; to make arrangements
      concerning.
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            Whiles I take order for mine own affairs. --Shak.
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   Syn: Arrangement; management. See {Direction}.
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from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Natural \Nat"u*ral\ (?; 135), a. [OE. naturel, F. naturel, fr.
   L. naturalis, fr. natura. See {Nature}.]
   1. Fixed or determined by nature; pertaining to the
      constitution of a thing; belonging to native character;
      according to nature; essential; characteristic; innate;
      not artificial, foreign, assumed, put on, or acquired; as,
      the natural growth of animals or plants; the natural
      motion of a gravitating body; natural strength or
      disposition; the natural heat of the body; natural color.
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            With strong natural sense, and rare force of will.
                                                  --Macaulay.
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   2. Conformed to the order, laws, or actual facts, of nature;
      consonant to the methods of nature; according to the
      stated course of things, or in accordance with the laws
      which govern events, feelings, etc.; not exceptional or
      violent; legitimate; normal; regular; as, the natural
      consequence of crime; a natural death; anger is a natural
      response to insult.
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            What can be more natural than the circumstances in
            the behavior of those women who had lost their
            husbands on this fatal day?           --Addison.
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   3. Having to do with existing system to things; dealing with,
      or derived from, the creation, or the world of matter and
      mind, as known by man; within the scope of human reason or
      experience; not supernatural; as, a natural law; natural
      science; history, theology.
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            I call that natural religion which men might know .
            . . by the mere principles of reason, improved by
            consideration and experience, without the help of
            revelation.                           --Bp. Wilkins.
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   4. Conformed to truth or reality; as:
      (a) Springing from true sentiment; not artificial or
          exaggerated; -- said of action, delivery, etc.; as, a
          natural gesture, tone, etc.
      (b) Resembling the object imitated; true to nature;
          according to the life; -- said of anything copied or
          imitated; as, a portrait is natural.
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   5. Having the character or sentiments properly belonging to
      one's position; not unnatural in feelings.
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            To leave his wife, to leave his babes, . . .
            He wants the natural touch.           --Shak.
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   6. Connected by the ties of consanguinity. especially,
      Related by birth rather than by adoption; as, one's
      natural mother. "Natural friends." --J. H. Newman.
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   7. Hence: Begotten without the sanction of law; born out of
      wedlock; illegitimate; bastard; as, a natural child.
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   8. Of or pertaining to the lower or animal nature, as
      contrasted with the higher or moral powers, or that which
      is spiritual; being in a state of nature; unregenerate.
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            The natural man receiveth not the things of the
            Spirit of God.                        --1 Cor. ii.
                                                  14.
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   9. (Math.) Belonging to, to be taken in, or referred to, some
      system, in which the base is 1; -- said of certain
      functions or numbers; as, natural numbers, those
      commencing at 1; natural sines, cosines, etc., those taken
      in arcs whose radii are 1.
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   10. (Mus.)
       (a) Produced by natural organs, as those of the human
           throat, in distinction from instrumental music.
       (b) Of or pertaining to a key which has neither a flat
           nor a sharp for its signature, as the key of C major.
       (c) Applied to an air or modulation of harmony which
           moves by easy and smooth transitions, digressing but
           little from the original key.
       (d) Neither flat nor sharp; -- of a tone.
       (e) Changed to the pitch which is neither flat nor sharp,
           by appending the sign [natural]; as, A natural.
           --Moore (Encyc. of Music).
           [1913 Webster +PJC]

   11. Existing in nature or created by the forces of nature, in
       contrast to production by man; not made, manufactured, or
       processed by humans; as, a natural ruby; a natural
       bridge; natural fibers; a deposit of natural calcium
       sulfate. Opposed to {artificial}, {man-made},
       {manufactured}, {processed} and {synthetic}. [WordNet
       sense 2]
       [PJC]

   12. Hence: Not processed or refined; in the same statre as
       that existing in nature; as, natural wood; natural foods.
       [PJC]

   {Natural day}, the space of twenty-four hours. --Chaucer.
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   {Natural fats}, {Natural gas}, etc. See under {Fat}, {Gas}.
      etc.

   {Natural Harmony} (Mus.), the harmony of the triad or common
      chord.

   {Natural history}, in its broadest sense, a history or
      description of nature as a whole, including the sciences
      of {botany}, {Zoology}, {geology}, {mineralogy},
      {paleontology}, {chemistry}, and {physics}. In recent
      usage the term is often restricted to the sciences of
      botany and Zoology collectively, and sometimes to the
      science of zoology alone.

   {Natural law}, that instinctive sense of justice and of right
      and wrong, which is native in mankind, as distinguished
      from specifically revealed divine law, and formulated
      human law.

   {Natural modulation} (Mus.), transition from one key to its
      relative keys.

   {Natural order}. (Nat. Hist.) See under {order}.

   {Natural person}. (Law) See under {person}, n.

   {Natural philosophy}, originally, the study of nature in
      general; the natural sciences; in modern usage, that
      branch of physical science, commonly called {physics},
      which treats of the phenomena and laws of matter and
      considers those effects only which are unaccompanied by
      any change of a chemical nature; -- contrasted with
      {mental philosophy} and {moral philosophy}.

   {Natural scale} (Mus.), a scale which is written without
      flats or sharps.

   Note: Model would be a preferable term, as less likely to
         mislead, the so-called artificial scales (scales
         represented by the use of flats and sharps) being
         equally natural with the so-called natural scale.

   {Natural science}, the study of objects and phenomena
      existing in nature, especially biology, chemistry, physics
      and their interdisciplinary related sciences; {natural
      history}, in its broadest sense; -- used especially in
      contradistinction to {social science}, {mathematics},
      {philosophy}, {mental science} or {moral science}.

   {Natural selection} (Biol.), the operation of natural laws
      analogous, in their operation and results, to designed
      selection in breeding plants and animals, and resulting in
      the survival of the fittest; the elimination over time of
      species unable to compete in specific environments with
      other species more adapted to survival; -- the essential
      mechanism of evolution. The principle of natural selection
      is neutral with respect to the mechanism by which
      inheritable changes occur in organisms (most commonly
      thought to be due to mutation of genes and reorganization
      of genomes), but proposes that those forms which have
      become so modified as to be better adapted to the existing
      environment have tended to survive and leave similarly
      adapted descendants, while those less perfectly adapted
      have tended to die out through lack of fitness for the
      environment, thus resulting in the survival of the
      fittest. See {Darwinism}.

   {Natural system} (Bot. & Zool.), a classification based upon
      real affinities, as shown in the structure of all parts of
      the organisms, and by their embryology.

            It should be borne in mind that the natural system
            of botany is natural only in the constitution of its
            genera, tribes, orders, etc., and in its grand
            divisions.                            --Gray.
      

   {Natural theology}, or {Natural religion}, that part of
      theological science which treats of those evidences of the
      existence and attributes of the Supreme Being which are
      exhibited in nature; -- distinguished from {revealed
      religion}. See Quotation under {Natural}, a., 3.

   {Natural vowel}, the vowel sound heard in urn, furl, sir,
      her, etc.; -- so called as being uttered in the easiest
      open position of the mouth organs. See {Neutral vowel},
      under {Neutral} and Guide to Pronunciation, [sect] 17.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]

   Syn: See {Native}.
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