3 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Ordinary \Or"di*na*ry\, a. [L. ordinarius, fr. ordo, ordinis,
order: cf. F. ordinaire. See {Order}.]
1. According to established order; methodical; settled;
regular. ``The ordinary forms of law.'' --Addison.
2. Common; customary; usual. --Shak.
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} (Naut.), one not expert or fully skilled,
and hence ranking below an able seaman.
Syn: Normal; common; usual; customary.
Usage: 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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Ordinary \Or"di*na*ry\, n.; pl. {Ordinaries} (-r[i^]z).
1. (Law)
(a) (Roman Law) An officer who has original jurisdiction
in his own right, and not by deputation.
(b) (Eng. Law) One who has immediate jurisdiction in
matters ecclesiastical; an ecclesiastical judge; also,
a deputy of the bishop, or a clergyman appointed to
perform divine service for condemned criminals and
assist in preparing them for death.
(c) (Am. Law) A judicial officer, having generally the
powers of a judge of probate or a surrogate.
2. The mass; the common run. [Obs.]
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. [R.]
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'h[^o]te; hence, also, the meal furnished at such a
dining room. --Shak.
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. (Her.) 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}.
(a) 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.
(b) (Naut.) Out of commission and laid up; -- said of a
naval vessel.
{Ordinary of the Mass} (R. C. Ch.), the part of the Mass
which is the same every day; -- called also the {canon of
the Mass}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
ordinary
adj 1: not exceptional in any way especially in quality or ability
or size or degree; "ordinary everyday objects";
"ordinary decency"; "an ordinary day"; "an ordinary
wine" [ant: {extraordinary}]
2: lacking special distinction, rank, or status; commonly
encountered; "average people"; "the ordinary (or common)
man in the street" [syn: {average}]
n 1: a judge of a probate court
2: the expected or commonplace condition or situation; "not out
of the ordinary"
3: a clergyman appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for
death
4: an early bicycle with a very large front wheel and small
back wheel [syn: {ordinary bicycle}]
5: (heraldry) any of several conventional figures used on
shields