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

ordinary \or"dinary\, n.; pl. ordinaries -ri^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.
          1913 webster

   2. the mass; the common run. obs.
      1913 webster

            i see no more in you than in the ordinary
            of nature's salework.                 --shak.
      1913 webster

   3. that which is so common, or continued, as to be considered
      a settled establishment or institution. r.
      1913 webster

            spain had no other wars save those which were grown
            into an ordinary.                     --bacon.
      1913 webster

   4. anything which is in ordinary or common use.
      1913 webster

            water buckets, wagons, cart wheels, plow socks, and
            other ordinaries.                     --sir w.
                                                  scott.
      1913 webster

   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^ote; hence, also, the meal furnished at such a
      dining room. --shak.
      1913 webster

            all the odd words they have picked up in a
            coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as
            flowers of style.                     --swift.
      1913 webster

            he exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and
            peddlers and to ordinaries.           --bancroft.
      1913 webster

   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.
      1913 webster

   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.
      1913 webster
see also:
ordinaries bend chevron chief cross fesse 
pale saltire subordinary in ordinary ordinary of the mass 
canon of the mass 

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

ordinary \or"dinary\, 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.
      1913 webster

   2. common; customary; usual. --shak.
      1913 webster

            method is not less requisite in ordinary
            conversation that in writing.         --addison.
      1913 webster

   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.
      1913 webster

            an ordinary lad would have acquired little or no
            useful knowledge in such a way.       --macaulay.
      1913 webster

   ordinary seaman naut., one not expert or fully skilled,
      and hence ranking below an able seaman.
      1913 webster

   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.
          1913 webster
see also:
order ordinary seaman able seaman normal ordinary common 

[3] : WordNet (r) 2.0

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
see also:
extraordinary average ordinary bicycle 

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

364 moby thesaurus words for "ordinary":
   american plan, attic, babbittish, european plan, ja, philistine,
   a la carte, accepted, accustomed, achievement, alerion,
   amicus curiae, animal charge, annulet, argent, armorial bearings,
   armory, arms, assessor, average, azure, banal, bandeau, bar,
   bar sinister, barmaster, baseborn, baton, bearings, below the salt,
   bend, bend sinister, besetting, billet, bizarre, blazon, blazonry,
   boardinghouse, bordure, bourgeois, broad arrow, cadency mark,
   campy, canton, central, chancellor, chaplet, charge, chaste,
   chevron, chief, circuit judge, classic, classical, coat of arms,
   cockatrice, cockney, common, commonplace, conformable,
   consuetudinary, convention, conventional, coronet, couvert, cover,
   cover charge, crescent, crest, cross, cross moline, crown, curious,
   current, customary, demeaning, device, difference, differencing,
   different, disadvantaged, dominant, dorm, dormitory, doss house,
   dull, eagle, eccentric, epidemic, ermine, ermines, erminites,
   erminois, escutcheon, established, everyday, exceptional, expected,
   extraordinary, fair, falcon, familiar, fess, fess point, field,
   file, flanch, flat, fleabag, fleur-de-lis, flophouse, frequent,
   frequentative, fret, fur, fusil, garden, garden variety,
   garden-variety, garland, general, generally accepted, griffin,
   guest house, gules, gyron, habitual, hatchment, helmet,
   heraldic device, high-camp, homely, homespun, honor point, hospice,
   hostel, hostelry, hotel, household, humble, humdrum, impalement,
   impaling, in the shade, inescutcheon, inferior, infra dig, inn,
   insipid, intermediary, intermediate, judge advocate,
   judge ordinary, junior, jurat, justice in eyre, justice of assize,
   kitschy, label, lay judge, legal assessor, less, lesser, lion,
   lodging house, low, low-camp, lowborn, lowbred, lower, lowly,
   lozenge, mantling, many, many times, marshaling, martlet, mascle,
   master, matter-of-fact, mean, medial, median, mediocre, medium,
   metal, middle-class, middle-of-the-road, middling, military judge,
   minor, moderate, modest, motto, mullet, mundane, natural,
   no great shakes, nombril point, nonclerical, nondescript, norm,
   normal, normative, not rare, obtaining, octofoil, odd,
   of common occurrence, offbeat, oft-repeated, oftentime, ombudsman,
   or, original, orle, outlandish, pale, paly, pandemic, passable,
   pean, peasant, peculiar, pedestrian, pension, pheon, picturesque,
   plain, plastic, plebeian, poetryless, police judge, pop, popular,
   posada, predominant, predominating, prescribed, prescriptive,
   presiding judge, prevailing, prevalent, probate judge, prosaic,
   prosing, prosy, provincial, pub, public, public house,
   puisne judge, pure, pure and simple, purpure, quaint, quarter,
   quartering, quotidian, rampant, rare, received, recorder,
   recurrent, regnant, regular, regulation, reigning, rife, roadhouse,
   rooming house, rose, routine, rude, ruling, run-of-mine,
   run-of-the-mill, running, sable, saltire, scutcheon, second rank,
   second string, secondary, self-service, service, servile, set,
   shabby-genteel, shield, simple, singular, so so, spread eagle,
   standard, status quo, stereotyped, stock, strange, striking, sub,
   subaltern, subject, subordinary, subordinate, subservient,
   suburban, tavern, tenne, the common, the commonplace, the normal,
   the ordinary, the usual, thick-coming, third rank, third string,
   third-estate, time-honored, tincture, tiresome, torse, traditional,
   tressure, typical, uncommon, unconventional, underprivileged,
   undistinguished, unembellished, uneventful, unexceptional,
   unexpected, unfamiliar, ungenteel, unicorn, unidealistic,
   unimaginative, unimpassioned, uninspired, unique, universal,
   unnoteworthy, unpoetic, unpretentious, unrefined, unremarkable,
   unromantic, unspectacular, unusual, usual, vair, vapid, vernacular,
   vert, vice-chancellor, vulgar, weird, widespread, wonted, workaday,
   workday, wreath, yale

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

ordinary, civil and eccl. law. an officer who has original jurisdiction in 
his  own right and not by deputation. 
     2. in england the ordinary is an officer who has immediate jurisdiction 
in ecclesiastical causes. co. litt. 344. 
     3. in the united states, the ordinary possesses, in those states where 
such officer exists, powers vested in him by the constitution and acts of 
the legislature, in south carolina, the ordinary is a judicial officer. 1 
rep. const. ct. 26; 2 rep. const. ct. 384. 

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