Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of 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.