ordain : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: ordain	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for ordain
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
ordain v order by virtue of superior authority; decree; "The King ordained the persecution and expulsion of the Jews"; "the legislature enacted this law in 1985" Synonym(s): ordain, enact appoint to a clerical posts; "he was ordained in the Church" Synonym(s): ordain, consecrate, ordinate, order invest with ministerial or priestly authority; "The minister was ordained only last month" issue an order
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Ordain \Ordain"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Ordained}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Ordaining}.] [OE. ordeinen, OF. ordener, F. ordonner, fr. L. ordinare, from ordo, ordinis, order. See {Order}, and cf. {Ordinance}.] 1. To set in order; to arrange according to rule; to regulate; to set; to establish. [bd]Battle well ordained.[b8] --Spenser. The stake that shall be ordained on either side. --Chaucer. 2. To regulate, or establish, by appointment, decree, or law; to constitute; to decree; to appoint; to institute. Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month. --1 Kings xii. 32. And doth the power that man adores ordain* Their doom ? --Byron. 3. To set apart for an office; to appoint. Being ordained his special governor. --Shak. 4. (Eccl.) To invest with ministerial or sacerdotal functions; to introduce into the office of the Christian ministry, by the laying on of hands, or other forms; to set apart by the ceremony of ordination. Meletius was ordained by Arian bishops. --Bp. Stillingfleet.