Edit page | Page history | Printable version

ordain

1. To set in order; to arrange according to rule; to regulate; to set; to establish. Battle well ordained. The stake that shall be ordained on either side. (Chaucer)

2. To regulate, or establish, by appointment, decree, or law; to constitute; to decree; to appoint; to institute. Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month. (1 kings xii. 32) And doth the power that man adores ordain Their doom ? (Byron)

3. To set apart for an office; to appoint. Being ordained his special governor. (Shak)

4. To invest with ministerial or sacerdotal functions; to introduce into the office of the Christian ministry, by the laying on of hands, or other forms; to set apart by the ceremony of ordination. Meletius was ordained by arian bishops. (bp. Stillingfleet)

Origin: OE. Ordeinen, OF. Ordener, F. Ordonner, fr. L. Ordinare, from ordo, ordinis, order. See Order, and cf. Ordinance.