[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

ordinance \or"dinance\, n. oe. ordenance, of. ordenance, f.
   ordonnance. see ordain, and cf. ordnance, ordonnance.
   1913 webster
   1. orderly arrangement; preparation; provision. obs.
      --spenser.
      1913 webster

            they had made their ordinance
            of victual, and of other purveyance.  --chaucer.
      1913 webster

   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.
      1913 webster

            thou wilt die by god's just ordinance. --shak.
      1913 webster

            by custom and the ordinance of times. --shak.
      1913 webster

            walking in all the commandments and ordinances of
            the lord blameless.                   --luke i. 6.
      1913 webster

   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..
         1913 webster

   3. eccl. an established rite or ceremony.
      1913 webster

   4. rank; order; station. obs. --shak.
      1913 webster

   5. see ordnance. ordnance; cannon. obs. --shak.
      1913 webster
see also:
ordain ordnance ordonnance 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

ordinance
     n 1: an authoritative rule syn: regulation
     2: a statute enacted by a city government
     3: the act of ordaining; the act of conferring or receiving
        holy orders; "the rabbi's family was present for his
        ordination" syn: ordination
see also:
regulation ordination 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

90 moby thesaurus words for "ordinance":
   act, appointment, bill, brevet, bull, bylaw, canon, ceremonial,
   ceremony, code, commandment, convention, declaration, decree,
   decree-law, decreement, decretal, decretum, dictate, dictation,
   dictum, diktat, duty, edict, edictum, enactment, fiat, form,
   form of worship, formality, formula, formulary, function,
   general principle, golden rule, guideline, guiding principle,
   holy rite, imperative, institution, ipse dixit, jus, law,
   legislation, lex, liturgy, maxim, measure, mitzvah,
   mode of worship, moral, mystery, norm, observance, office,
   order of worship, ordonnance, practice, precept, prescribed form,
   prescript, prescription, principium, principle, proclamation,
   pronouncement, pronunciamento, regulation, rescript, rite, ritual,
   ritual observance, rituality, rubric, rule, ruling, sacrament,
   sacramental, senatus consult, senatus consultum, service,
   settled principle, solemnity, standard, standing order, statute,
   tenet, ukase, working principle, working rule

[4] : Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)

ordinance, legislation. a law, a statute, a decree.
     2. this word is more usually applied to the laws of a corporation, than 
to the acts of the legislature; as the ordinances of the city of 
philadelphia. the following account of the difference between a statute and 
an ordinance is extracted from bac. ab. statute, a. "where the proceeding 
consisted only of a petition from parliament, and an answer from the king, 
these were entered on the parliament roll; and if the matter was of a public 
nature, the whole was then styled an ordinance; if, however, the petition 
and answer were not only of a public, but a novel nature, they were then 
formed into an act by the king, with the aid of his council and judges, and 
entered on the statute roll." see harg.  but. co. litt. l59 b, notis; 3 
reeves, hist. eng. law, 146. 
     3. according to lord coke, the difference between a statute and an 
ordinance is, that the latter has not had the assent of the king, lords, and 
commons, but is made merely by two of those powers. 4 inst. 25. see barr. on 
stat. 41, note x. 

Ordinance >> O Words
Ordinance, definition of term: Ordinance
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