| a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes. |
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
order (ˈɔːdə) ![]() | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a state in which all components or elements are arranged logically, comprehensibly, or naturally |
| 2. | an arrangement or disposition of things in succession; sequence: alphabetical order |
| 3. | an established or customary method or state, esp of society |
| 4. | a peaceful or harmonious condition of society: order reigned in the streets |
| 5. | (often plural) a class, rank, or hierarchy: the lower orders |
| 6. | biology any of the taxonomic groups into which a class is divided and which contains one or more families. Carnivora, Primates, and Rodentia are three orders of the class Mammalia |
| 7. | an instruction that must be obeyed; command |
| 8. | a decision or direction of a court or judge entered on the court record but not included in the final judgment |
| 9. | a. a commission or instruction to produce or supply something in return for payment |
| b. the commodity produced or supplied | |
| c. (as modifier): order form | |
| 10. | a procedure followed by an assembly, meeting, etc |
| 11. | (capital when part of a name) a body of people united in a particular aim or purpose |
| 12. | (usually capital) Also called: religious order a group of persons who bind themselves by vows in order to devote themselves to the pursuit of religious aims |
| 13. | history a society of knights constituted as a fraternity, such as the Knights Templars |
| 14. | a. a group of people holding a specific honour for service or merit, conferred on them by a sovereign or state |
| b. the insignia of such a group | |
| 15. | a. Doric Ionic Corinthian Tuscan See also composite any of the five major classical styles of architecture classified by the style of columns and entablatures used |
| b. any style of architecture | |
| 16. | Christianity |
| a. the sacrament by which bishops, priests, etc, have their offices conferred upon them | |
| b. any of the degrees into which the ministry is divided | |
| c. the office of an ordained Christian minister | |
| 17. | a form of Christian Church service prescribed to be used on specific occasions |
| 18. | Judaism one of the six sections of the Mishna or the corresponding tractates of the Talmud |
| 19. | maths |
| a. the number of times a function must be differentiated to obtain a given derivative | |
| b. the order of the highest derivative in a differential equation | |
| c. the number of rows or columns in a determinant or square matrix | |
| d. the number of members of a finite group | |
| 20. | short for order of magnitude |
| 21. | military the order the dress, equipment, or formation directed for a particular purpose or undertaking: drill order; battle order |
| 22. | a tall order something difficult, demanding, or exacting |
| 23. | in order |
| a. in sequence | |
| b. properly arranged | |
| c. appropriate or fitting | |
| 24. | (preposition; |
| 25. | (conjunction) in order that with the purpose that; so that |
| 26. | keep order to maintain or enforce order |
| 27. | of the order of, in the order of having an approximately specified size or quantity |
| 28. | on order having been ordered or commissioned but not having been delivered |
| 29. | out of order |
| a. not in sequence | |
| b. not working | |
| c. not following the rules or customary procedure | |
| 30. | to order |
| a. according to a buyer's specifications | |
| b. on request or demand | |
| —vb | |
| 31. | (tr) to give a command to (a person or animal to do or be something) |
| 32. | to request (something) to be supplied or made, esp in return for payment: he ordered a hamburger |
| 33. | (tr) to instruct or command to move, go, etc (to a specified place): they ordered her into the house |
| 34. | (tr; may take a clause as object) to authorize; prescribe: the doctor ordered a strict diet |
| 35. | (tr) to arrange, regulate, or dispose (articles) in their proper places |
| 36. | (of fate or the gods) to will; ordain |
| 37. | rare (tr) to ordain |
| —interj | |
| 38. | an exclamation of protest against an infringement of established procedure |
| 39. | an exclamation demanding that orderly behaviour be restored |
| [C13: from Old French ordre, from Latin ordō] | |
| 'orderer | |
| —n | |
| 'orderless | |
| —adj | |
order or·der (ôr'dər)
n.
A taxonomic category of organisms ranking above a family and below a class.
| order (ôr'dər) Pronunciation Key
A group of organisms ranking above a family and below a class. See Table at taxonomy. |
In biology, the classification lower than a class and higher than a family. Dogs and cats belong to the order of carnivores; human beings, monkeys, and apes belong to the order of primates. Flies and mosquitoes belong to the same order; so do birch trees and oak trees. (See Linnean classification.)
on the order of
Approximately, as in We need on the order of three cases of wine for the reception.
Like, of a kind similar to, as in Their house is on the order of a colonial saltbox. [c. 1900]