Lexic.us

Definition of Ordinary

1. Adjective. Not exceptional in any way especially in quality or ability or size or degree. "An ordinary wine"

2. Noun. A judge of a probate court.

3. Adjective. Lacking special distinction, rank, or status; commonly encountered. "The ordinary (or common) man in the street"

4. Noun. The expected or commonplace condition or situation. "Not out of the ordinary"

5. Noun. A clergyman appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for death.

6. Noun. An early bicycle with a very large front wheel and small back wheel.

7. Noun. (heraldry) any of several conventional figures used on shields.

Definition of Ordinary

1. a. According to established order; methodical; settled; regular.

2. n. An officer who has original jurisdiction in his own right, and not by deputation.

Definition of Ordinary

1. Noun. The part of the Roman Catholic Mass that is the same every day ¹

2. Adjective. (legal) Having regular jurisdiction (of a judge; now only used in certain phrases). ¹

3. Adjective. Being part of the natural order of things; normal, customary, routine. ¹

4. Adjective. Having no special characteristics or function; everyday, common, mundane (often deprecatory). ¹

5. Adjective. (Australia New Zealand colloquial informal) Bad or undesirable. ¹

6. Noun. (obsolete) A devotional manual. ¹

7. Noun. (Christianity) A rule, or book of rules, prescribing the order of service, especially of Mass. ¹

8. Noun. A person having immediate jurisdiction in a given case of ecclesiastical law, such as the bishop within a diocese. ¹

9. Noun. (obsolete) A set portion of food, later as available for a fixed price at an inn or other eating establishment. ¹

10. Noun. (archaic or historical) A place where such meals are served; a public tavern, inn. ¹

11. Noun. (heraldry) One of the standard geometric designs placed across the center of a coat of arms, such as a pale or fess. ¹

12. Noun. An ordinary thing or person. ¹

13. Noun. (historical) A penny-farthing bicycle. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Ordinary

1. of a kind to be expected in the normal order of events [adj -NARIER, -NARIEST] / something that is ordinary [n -NARIES]

Medical Definition of Ordinary

1. 1. According to established order; methodical; settled; regular. "The ordinary forms of law." 2. Common; customary; usual. "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, one not expert or fully skilled, and hence ranking below an able seaman. Synonym: Normal, common, usual, customary. 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. Origin: L. Ordinarius, fr. Ordo, ordinis, order: cf. F. Ordinaire. See Order. 1. A judicial officer, having generally the powers of a judge of probate or a surrogate. 2. The mass; the common run. "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. "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'hote; hence, also, the meal furnished at such a dining room. "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. 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. 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. The part of the Mass which is the same every day; called also the canon of the Mass. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Ordinary

ordinances ordinand ordinands ordinant ordinants ordinar ordinariate ordinarier ordinaries ordinariest

ordinarily ordinariness ordinarinesses ordinarity ordinars ordinary annuity ordinary bicycle ordinary care ordinary differential equation ordinary differential equations

ordinary high water mark ordinary life insurance ordinary resolution ordinary seaman ordinary seamen ordinary shares ordinate ordinated ordinately

Literary usage of Ordinary

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Science by American Association for the Advancement of Science (1905)
"Indeed, we are familiar with the idea that attraction or repulsion exerted on the electric charge which ordinary matter may bear is communicated to the ..."

2. An Elementary Treatise on Differential Equations by Abraham Cohen (1906)
"Equations in which there is a single independent variable (and which, therefore, involve ordinary derivatives) are known as ordinary differential equations. ..."

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