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ordinance - 5 dictionary results

or⋅di⋅nance

  [awr-dn-uhns]
Use ordinance in a Sentence
–noun
1. an authoritative rule or law; a decree or command.
2. a public injunction or regulation: a city ordinance against excessive horn blowing.
3. something believed to have been ordained, as by a deity or destiny.
4. Ecclesiastical.
a. an established rite or ceremony.
b. a sacrament.
c. the communion.
Origin:
1275–1325; ME ordinaunce (< OF ordenance) < ML ordinantia, deriv. of L ordinant- (s. of ordināns), prp. of ordināre to arrange. See ordination, -ance

Synonyms:
1,2. order.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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or·di·nance   (ôr'dn-əns)   
n.  
  1. An authoritative command or order.
  2. A custom or practice established by long usage.
  3. A Christian rite, especially the Eucharist.
  4. A statute or regulation, especially one enacted by a city government.

[Middle English ordinaunce, from Old French ordenance, from Medieval Latin ōrdinantia, from Latin ōrdināns, ōrdinant-, present participle of ōrdināre, to ordain, from ōrdō, ōrdin-, order; see ar- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Ordinance

Or"di*nance\, n. [OE. ordenance, OF. ordenance, F. ordonnance. See Ordain, and cf. Ordnance, Ordonnance.]

1. Orderly arrangement; preparation; provision. [Obs.] --Spenser.

They had made their ordinance Of victual, and of other purveyance. --Chaucer.

2. A rule established by authority; a permanent rule of action; a statute, law, regulation, rescript, or accepted usage; an edict or decree; esp., a local law enacted by a municipal government; as, a municipal ordinance.

Thou wilt die by God's just ordinance. --Shak.

By custom and the ordinance of times. --Shak.

Walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. --Luke i. 6.

Note: Acts of Parliament are sometimes called ordinances; also, certain colonial laws and certain acts of Congress under Confederation; as, the ordinance of 1787 for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio River; the colonial ordinance of 1641, or 1647. This word is often used in Scripture in the sense of a law or statute of sovereign power. --Ex. xv. 25. --Num. x. 8. --Ezra iii. 10. Its most frequent application now in the United States is to laws and regulations of municipal corporations. --Wharton (Law Dict.).

3. (Eccl.) An established rite or ceremony.

4. Rank; order; station. [Obs.] --Shak.

5. [See Ordnance.] Ordnance; cannon. [Obs.] --Shak.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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ordinance 
1303, "an authoritative direction, decree, or command" (narrower or more transitory than a law), from O.Fr. ordenance, from M.L. ordinantia, from L. ordinantem (nom. ordinans), prp. of ordinare "put in order" (see ordain). By c.1330 senses had emerged of "arrangement in ranks or rows" (especially in order of battle), also "warlike provisions, equipment" (a sense now in ordnance, q.v.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: or·di·nance
Pronunciation: 'ord-&n-&ns
Function: noun
: an authoritative decree or law; especially : a municipal regulation ordinance>
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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