ordinary

noun

1. 1

   A person with authority; authority, ordinance. A person having immediate jurisdiction in a given case of ecclesiastical law, such as the bishop within a diocese.

2. 2

   obsoleteA person with authority; authority, ordinance. A courier; someone delivering mail or post.

   I […] will lay to till you come within hail […] but pray respond by the first ordinary.

3. 3

   A person with authority; authority, ordinance. A judge with the authority to deal with cases himself or herself rather than by delegation.

4. 4

   historicalA person with authority; authority, ordinance. The chaplain of Newgate prison, who prepared condemned prisoners for death.

   He died with pious composure and resolution. I have just seen the Ordinary that attended him.

5. 5

   obsoleteSomething ordinary or regular. Customary fare, one's regular daily allowance of food; (hence) a regular portion or allowance.

6. 6

   historicalSomething ordinary or regular. A meal provided for a set price at an eating establishment.

   In short, Mr. Jolter could give a very good account of the stages on the road, and […] was a connoisseur in ordinaries, from twelve to five and thirty livres […].

   Here he recommended me to fix my board, there being an excellent ordinary daily at two o'clock, at which I might dine or not as I pleased.

7. 7

   archaicSomething ordinary or regular. A place where such meals are served; a public tavern, inn.

   Vpon feſtiuall daies he goes to Court, and ſalutes vvithout re-ſaluting: at night in an Ordinarie he confeſſeth the buſineſſe in hand, and ſeemes as converſant vvith all intents and plots, as if he begot them.

   We are most part too inquisitive and apt to hearken after news, which Cæsar, in his Commentaries, observes of the old Gauls, they would be inquiring of every carrier and passenger what they had heard or seen, what news abroad? […] as at an ordinary with us, bakehouse, or barber's shop.

   Thus furnished, they come up to town, reckon all their errors for accomplishments, borrow the newest set of phrases ; and if they take a pen into their hands, all the odd words they have picked up in a coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as flowers of style.

   He enjoyed a perpetual port duty of fourteen pence a ton, on vessels not owned in the province, yielding not far from five thousand dollars a year; and he exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and peddlers and to ordinaries.

8. 8

   Something ordinary or regular. One of the standard geometric designs placed across the center of a coat of arms, such as a pale or fess.

9. 9

   Something ordinary or regular. An ordinary person or thing; something commonplace.

   Spain had no other wars save those of the Low Countries, which were grown into an ordinary

   water-buckets, waggons, cart-wheels, plough-socks, shuttles, candlesticks, and other ordinaries

10. 10

    Something ordinary or regular. The usual course of things; normal condition or health; a standard way of behaviour or action.

    I ſee no more in you than in the ordinary / Of nature's ſalework.

11. 11

    historicalSomething ordinary or regular. A penny farthing bicycle.

12. 12

    Something ordinary or regular. A part of the Christian liturgy that is reasonably constant without regard to the date on which the service is performed.

13. 13

    obsoleteA book setting out ordinary or regular conduct. A devotional manual; a book setting our rules for proper conduct.

14. 14

    A book setting out ordinary or regular conduct. A rule, or book of rules, prescribing the order of a liturgy, especially of Mass.

15. 15

    Variant of OrdinarySomething ordinary or regular. A part of the Christian liturgy that is reasonably constant without regard to the date on which the service is performed. Alternative letter-case form of Ordinary (“those parts of the Mass which are consistent from day to day”).

adjective

1. 1

   Having regular jurisdiction; now only used in certain phrases.

2. 2

   Being part of the natural order of things; normal, customary, routine.

   On an ordinary day I wake up at nine o'clock, work for six hours, and then go to the gym.

   Method is not leſs requiſite in ordinary converſation than in writing, provided a man would talk to make himſelf underſtood.

   The three were now assembled in the old banqueting-hall, which, from its state of better preservation, had become their ordinary chamber.

3. 3

   Having no special characteristics or function; everyday, common, mundane; often deprecatory.

   I live a very ordinary life most of the time, but every year I spend a week in Antarctica.

   He looked so ordinary, I never thought he'd be capable of murder.

   a. 1859, Thomas Macaulay, "Samuel Johnson," in 1871, Lady Trevelyan (Hannah More Macaulay Trevelyan, editor), The Works of Lord Macaulay Complete, Volume 7, page 325, An ordinary lad would have acquired little or no useful knowledge in such a way: but much that was dull to ordinary lads was interesting to Samuel.

   It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.

4. 4

   informalBad or undesirable.

   1983 September 20, Bruce Stannard, Australia II Joins Our Greats, The Age, republished 2003, David Headon (editor), The Best Ever Australian Sports Writing: A 200 Year Collection, page 480, It was, in some ways a sad, almost pathetic sight to see this great American boat which had fought so hard throughout the cup summer, now looking very ordinary indeed.

   Everyone started making suggestions as to what to do but they were all pretty ordinary ideas such as lighting a fire and hope someone would see the smoke and come to rescue us and so on.

   Since the general public gained access to the Internet in 1993-4, firstly by narrowband dial-up access and since 1998 by very ordinary, so-called broadband speeds (generally less than 1 Mbps), a social and cultural revolution has been underway.

Forms

plural

ordinaries

comparative

more ordinary

superlative

most ordinary