4142 
tween certain Plow-shares veil hot, according to the Orda- 
lian Law, which without harm she perform'd. 
Milton, Hist. Eng., vi. 
ordain 
Above the croslet 
That was ordeyned with that false get. 
Chaucer, Canon's Yeoman's Talc, 1. 2<>6. 
He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death ; ordaliumt (6r-da'li-um), . [NL. : see ordeal.] 
he unlainetli his arrows against the persecutors^ io Same as ordeal. Selden, Table- 1 alk, p. 1LA. 
.__,, See ord. Chaucer. 
ordeal (6r'de-al), n. and a. [< ME. *ordel, ordal, 
Ps. vii. 18. , 
In this pleasant soil "t_* 
Mis far more pleasant garden God ordain'd. 
n, P. L., iv. 215 
2. To set up; establish; institute; appoint; 
order. 
Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the 
fifteenth day of the month. 1 KL xn. 32. 
When first this order was ordain'd, my lords, 
Knights of the garter were* ^birth. ^ ^ ^ 
He who ordained the Sabbath loves the poor ! 
0. W. Holmes, A Rhymed Lesson. 
., 
wrfc/, usua 
N ^! J\ TA 
, ordeal (asdefined), lit. 
^^ 
= OHG. 
D. oordeel = 1 -. 
wteK, iirtcila, urteil, MHG. m-teile, urtcil, G. 1 
tlieil, urteil, a judgment, decision), < or-, ac- 
cented form of r-, usually - (see a- 1 ), + dail, 
dill, a part, deal (or rather the base of the orig. 
verb), with a suffix lost in AS., but retained in 
OS. and OHG.: see or- and dean. The tech- 
" , the disappearance of or- 
3. To dispose or regulate according to will or ag ft significant prefix, and the remoteness of 
purpose ; prescribe ; give orders or directions t]ie ma j n element -deal from its etym. meaii- 
for; command; enact; decree: used especially ing j e( j t o a separation of the word from its 
of the decrees of Providence or of fate ; hence, 
to destine. 
"Harald," said William, "listen to my resoun, 
What right that I haue of Englond the coroun 
After Edwarde 's dede, if it so betide 
That God haf ordeynd so I after him abide." 
Rob. of Brunne, p. 68. 
As it was ordained unto all the people of Israel by an 
everlasting decree. Tobit i. 6. 
God from all eternity did by his unchangeable counsel 
ordain whatever in time should come to pass. 
The Irish Articles of Religion (1615), art. 11. 
This mighty Rule to Time the Fates ordain. 
Congreve, Birth of the Muse. 
What if the foot, ordain'd the dust to tread, 
Or hand to toil, aspired to be the head? 
Pope, Essay on Man, i. 259. 
4. To set apart for an office ; select ; appoint. 
Than he bad hir ordeyne a-nother woman to norissh hir 
sone. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 89. 
To Eltham will I, where the young king is, 
Being ordain'd his special governor. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., i. 1. 171. 
(a) To destine, set apart, etc., to a certain spiritual condi- 
tion, or to the fulfilment of a certain providential purpose : 
especially in Biblical usage. 
As many as were ordained to eternal life believed. 
Acts xiii. 48. 
(b) Eccles., to invest with ministerial or sacerdotal func- 
tions ; confer holy orders upon ; appoint to or formally 
admission to the priesthood, as distinguished from making 
a deacon and consecrating a bishop. See ordination, 2. 
If he were ordeynd clerke. Rob. of Brunne, p. 129. 
He ordained twelve, that they should be with him and 
that he might send them forth to preach, And to have 
power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils. 
Mark iii. 14, 15. 
= Syn. 3. To destine, enact, order, prescribe, enjoin. In 
regard to the making of human laws or the acts of Provi- 
dence, ordain is the most weighty and solemn word in use : 
as, the Mayor and Common Council do ordain; "the pow- 
actual source, and its treatment as of L. ori- 
gin; hence the ordinary pron. in three sylla- 
bles (as if the termination were like that of real, 
ideal, etc.), instead of the orig. two (6r'del).] 
1. n. 1. A form of trial to determine guilt or 
innocence, formerly practised in Europe, and 
still in parts of the East and by various savage 
tribes. It consisted In testing the effect of flre, water, 
poison, etc., upon the accused. Well-known flre-ordeals in 
England were the handling of red-hot irons, or the walk- 
ing over heated plowshares. A common form of the wa- 
ter-ordeal was the casting of the accused into water : he 
was considered innocent if he sank, guilty if he floated. 
The practice of "ducking witches" is a survival of this 
water-ordeal, and the phrase "to go through flre and 
water " probably alludes to those customs. These ordeals 
were abolished in England in the reign of Henry III., but 
the wager of battle remained. The ordeal of poison-water 
is common in Africa ; that of burning candles, in Burma ; 
that of eating rice, in Siam, etc. 
By ordal or by ooth, 
Bv sort, or in what wyse so yow leste. 
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 1046. 
Such tests of truth as Ordeal and Compurgation satisfy 
men's minds completely and easily. 
Maine, Early Hist, of Inst., p. 48. 
If from Thy ordeal's heated bars 
Our feet are seamed with crimson scars, 
Thy will be done ! Whittier, Thy Will be Done. 
2. A severe trial ; trying circumstances ; a se- 
vere test of courage, endurance, patience, etc. 
The villanous ordeal of the papal custom-house. 
Hawthorne, Marble Faun, xi. 
=Syn. 2. Proof, experiment, touchstone. 
II. a. Pertaining to trial by ordeal. 
Their ordeale lawes which they vsed in doubtfull cases, 
when cleere and manifest proofes wanted. 
Hakeu-ill, Apology, IV. ii. B. 
Ordeal bark. See bark?. Ordeal bean, ordeal nut. 
Same as Calabar bean (which see, under beanl). 
ordeal-root (6r'de-al-rot), n. The root of a 
species of Stryclmos, I used in trials by ordeal by 
the natives of western Africa. 
ordeal-tree (6r'de-al-tre), n. One of three poi- 
sonous trees of Africa, (a) See ordeal bark, under 
barkV. (b) The Cerbera Tanghin. See Cerbera. (c) The 
ers that be are ordained of God," Rom. xiii. 1. 
ordainable (6r-da'na-bl), a. [< ordain + -able.'] 
Capable of being ordained, destined, or ap- 
pointed. 
The nature of man is ordainable to life. 
Up. Hall, Remains, p. 377. (Latham.) 
OTdataer (6da'nte), . [< ME. ordeinonr or- 
denour, < Or . ordeneor, oraoneor, ^ Ju. ordmator, t wo i as t named belong to the natural order Apocynaceai. 
one who orders or ordains, < ordinare, order, ordelfet, See oredelfe. 
ordain : see ordain. Cf. ordinator.] One who ordenaryt, An obsolete form of ordinary. 
ordains, (of) One who rules or regulates; ruler; com- ordenet, [ME., also ordeyne, ordinee (prop, 
mander; governor; master; manager; regulator. three syllables), < OF. ordene, < L. ordinatus, 
That he werre his wardein, & al is ordeinour ordered, ordinate, regular: see ordinate.~\ Reg- 
To is wille to will! him & to the king's honour. ,,1 ,. . 
Rob. of Gloucester, p. 469. ' 
(&) One who decrees; especially, one of a body of bishops, 
earls, and barons, in the reign of Edward II. , in 1310, whom 
Orden 
spaces, 
ene moevynges by places, by tymes, by dooinges, by 
i, by qualites. Chaucer, Boethius, iii. prose 12. 
the king was obliged to invest with authority to enact or- ordenelvt adv. [ME., < ordene + -Z^ 2 .] Regu- 
dinances for the government of the kingdom, the regula- i ,1 nrAovl-v rv 
tion of the king's household, etc. 
The Ordainers took their oath on the 20th of March in Ther , n ' s > dowte that they ne ben don ryhtfully and 
the Painted Chamber; foremost among them was Arch- ordenely to the profyt of hem -*,,.,.. ,_ nro , e B 
bishop Winchelsey, who saw himself supported by six of Chaucer, Bo lus, iv. pro! 
his brethren. Stubbs, Const. Hist., 251. or( J en ourt, ordeynourt, n. Middle English 
(ct) One who institutes, founds, or creates. forms of ordainer. 
And thus he offended truth even in his first attempt ; order (6r'der), n. [< ME. ordre (= D. order, orde 
for, not content with his created nature, and thinking it __ MLG. orden, orde = G. order = Sw. order = 
Dan. ordre), < OF. ordre, also ordene, ordine, F. 
ordre = Sp. orden = Pg. ordem = It. ordine = 
OHG. ordena, MHG. G. orden = Sw. Dan. or- 
den = W. tirdd and urten, order, etc., < L. ordo 
too low to be the highest creature of God, he offended the 
ordainer, not only in the attempt but in the wish and sim- 
ple violation thereof. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., L 11. 
(d) One who appoints to office, especially one who confers 
holy orders ; one who invests another with ministerial or 
sacerdotal functions. 
ordainment (6r-dau'ment), n. [< ordain + 
-went.] 1. The act of "ordaining or the state ad j. s ' tem ord from the root of 'oriri, rise, in 
of being ordained. Milton. 2. Appointment; n ^, nvo CT aeT , se <, . if i; t . <, mine- for- 
destiuy. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, 
i. 32. 
ordalt, . A Middle English form of ordeal. 
ordaliant (6r-da'lian), a. [< ordal (ML. orda- 
(ordin-), a row, line, series, regular arrange- 
ment, order; supposed to come, through an 
lium) + -j.] Same as ordeal. 
To approve her [Queen Emma's] innocence, praying 
over-night to St. Swithun, she offerd to pass blindfold be- 
a more orig. sense 'go'; as if lit. 'a going for- 
ward.'] 1. A row; rank; line. 
But soone the knights with their bright burning blades 
Broke their rude troupes, and orders did confownd. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. ix. 15. 
First lat the gunes befoir us goe, 
That they may break the order. 
Battle ofBalriunes (Child's Ballads, VII. 225). 
order 
2. A rank, grade, or class of a community or 
society : as, the higher or the lower orders of 
the community. 
In the whilke blys I byde at be here 
Nyen ordres of aungels full clere. 
York Plans, p. 2. 
The King commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the 
priests of the second order, ami the keepers of the door, 
to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the ves- 
sels that were made for Baal. 2 Ki. xxiii. 4. 
Orders and degrees 
Jar not with liberty, but well consist. 
Milton, T. L.,v. 792. 
It is a custom among the lower orders to put the first 
piece of money that they receive in the day to the lips and 
forehead before putting it in the pocket. 
E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. 327. 
The virtue of the best Pagans was perhaps of as high 
an order as that of the best Christians, though it was of a 
somewhat different type. Lecky, Europ. Morals, II. 164. 
3. Specifically (a) The degree, rank, or sta- 
tus of clergymen. 
And the title that ge take ordres by telleth se ben 
auaunced. Piers Plowman (B), xi. 281. 
(b) One of the several degrees or grades of the 
clerical office. In the Roman Catholic Church these 
orders are bishop, priest (presbyter), deacon, subdeacon, 
acolyte, exorcist, reader, and doorkeeper. Originally the 
first three were accounted vtajor orders and the others 
minor orders. Since the twelfth century the order of sub- 
deacon has been advanced to the rank of a major order, and 
the number of orders is generally counted as seven, the or- 
ders of bishop and presbyter being regarded as one order 
in so far as the sacerdotal character belongs to both. In 
the Orthodox Greek and other Oriental churches the major 
orders are those of bishop, priest, and deacon, and the 
minor orders are subdeacon, reader (anagnost), and some- 
times singer (psaltes). The orders of bishop, priest, and 
deacon are known not only as major or holy orders, but as 
apostolic orders. The orders of subdeaoon, acolyte, exorcist, 
and doorkeeper (ostiary) existed in the Western Church 
before the middle of the third century ; those of subdeacon, 
exorcist, reader, singer, and doorkeeper were as old as the 
third or fourth century in the Eastern Church. The An- 
glican Church retains only the orders of bishop, priest, and 
deacon. Major orders can be conferred by bishops only. 
Chorepiscopi, abbots, and priests have sometimes, how- 
ever, been authorized to confer minor orders. 
They cannot abide 
Vnto Church orders strictlie to be tide. 
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. 9.), p. 14. 
(c) In the Roman Catholic, Greek, Anglican, 
and other episcopal churches, the sacrament 
or rite of ordination, by which ecclesiastics re- 
ceive the power and grace for the discharge of 
their several functions : specifically termed holy 
order, or more commonly holy ordei-s. The bishop 
alone can administer this rite. Orders as a sacrament or 
sacramental rite are limited to the major orders. 
He [a certain friar] went to Amiens to be fully confirmed 
in his Orders by the Bishop. Coryat, Crudities, I. 14. 
A Republican in holy orders was a strange and almost 
an unnatural being. ' Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. 
4. The consideration attaching to rank; honor; 
dignity; state. 
Trewely to take and treweliche to fyste, 
Ys the profession and the pure ordre that apendeth to 
knyjtes. Piers Plowman (C), ii. 97. 
The several chairs of order look you scour 
With juice of balm, and every precious flower: 
Each fair instalment, coat, and several crest, 
With loyal blazon, evermore be blest ! 
Shak., M. W. of W., v. B. 68. 
These were the prime in order and in might. 
Milton, V. L.,i. 506. 
5. (a) In zool., that taxonomic group which 
regularly comes next below the class and next 
above the family, consisting of one or more 
families, and forming a division (sometimes the 
whole) of a class. Like other classiflcatory groups, it 
has only an arbitrary or conventional taxonomic value. 
Compare guperorder, suborder, (ft) In l)ot., the most 
important unit of classification above the ge- 
nus, corresponding somewhat closely to family 
in zoology. See family, 6. In phanerogams the 
term famSy is not technical or systematic, being some- 
times applied to suborders, tribes, or even genera. In 
cryptogams it is made a subdivision of the order by some 
authors. See natural order, under natural. 
6. A number of persons of the same profes- 
sion, occupation, or pursuits, constituting a 
separate class in the community, or united by 
some special interest. 
The Archbishop 
Of Canterbury, accompanied with other 
Learned and reverend fathers of his order. 
Shak., Hen. VIII., iv. 1.26. 
The spirit of the whole clerical order rose against this 
injustice. Macaulay, Hist. Eng.,vi. 
Specifically (o) A body or society of persons living by 
common consent under the same religious, moral, or social 
regulations; especially, a monastic society or fraternity : 
as, an order of monks or friars ; the Benedictine or Fran- 
ciscan order. 
And made an lions of monckes, to hold her ordre bet. 
Hoi. of Gloucester, p. 282. 
