| 释义 |
▪ I. ordinary, n.|ˈɔːdɪnərɪ|
Also 4–7 ordyn-, 5–6 orden-, 7 ordn-.
[In earlier senses, a. early OF. and Anglo-F. ordinarie, ad. med.L. ordinārius (sc. judex, liber, etc.) and as neut. n. ordinārium; in some senses prob. immediately from the L. words; later senses are partly native developments of the earlier, partly translations of F. ordinaire, and largely, elliptical uses of ordinary a., sometimes after F. types.]
I. Applied to a person or staff of persons.
1. Eccl. and Common Law. One who has, of his own right and not by special deputation, immediate jurisdiction in ecclesiastical cases, as the archbishop in a province, or the bishop or bishop's deputy in a diocese.
[1292Britton iii. xxii. §3 En tel cas covendra de ceo estre certifié par le Evask et par les ordinaries.] c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 384 Freris..ben exempt fro bischopis and oþer ordinaries. 1480Bury Wills (Camden) 60 The ordenary, afore whom this myn testament schall be prouyd. 1529Rastell Pastyme, Hist. Brit. (1811) 193 Clerkes indyted of felonye shalbe delyvered to the ordynaryes. 1590Swinburne Testaments 205 The executor which deriueth his authoritie from the lawe, is the Bishop or Ordinarie of euerie diocesse. 1607Cowell Interpr., Ordinarie (Ordinarius), though in the ciuil lawe, whence the word is taken, it doth signifie any iudge that hath authoritie to take knowledge of causes in his owne right, as he is a magistrate, and not by deputation; yet in our common lawe, it is most commonly..taken for him, that hath ordinarie Iurisdiction in causes ecclesiasticall. 1687Bp. Cartwright in Magd. Coll. & Jas. II (O.H.S.) 115 The King..is Supreme Ordinary of this Kingdom. 1767Blackstone Comm. II. xviii. 277 If the bishop be both patron and ordinary, he shall not have a double time allowed him to collate in. 1875Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 98 It was agreed that all Lollards..should be handed over to the ordinaries to be tried.
2. Civil Law. A judge having authority to take cognizance of cases in his own right and not by delegation; spec. in Scotland, one of the five judges of the Court of Session who constitute the Outer House (= Lord Ordinary, ordinary a. 2); in U.S., a judge of a court of probate.
1607[see prec. sense]. 1641Termes de la Ley 212. 1658 in Phillips. 1834Tait's Mag. I. 724/1 From Mr. Hope's statement..the Ordinaries fare worse than the Judges of the Inner-House, as they must sometimes read manuscript... I do not know a more laborious life than that of one of the Lords Ordinary. 1861W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 755/2 The junior or last appointed Ordinary of the First Division is appointed to sit as junior of the two permanent Lords Ordinary of the Second Division.
3. An officer in a religious fraternity having charge of the convent, etc.: = med.L. ordinārius (Du Cange). Obs. exc. Hist.
1481Bury Wills (Camden) 68 The Secresten of the Monasterie of Bury Seynt Edmund, Ordinarie of the same place.
4. a. A diocesan officer appointed to give criminals their neck-verses, and to prepare them for death; more fully o. of assize and sessions. b. The chaplain of Newgate prison, whose duty it was to prepare condemned prisoners for death. Obs. exc. Hist.
1696Phillips (ed. 5), Ordinary,..Also the Bishop of the Diocesses Sub at Sessions and Assizes, to give Malefactors their Neck-verses, and to judge whether they read or no. 1700Congreve Way of World iii. xiii, The Ordinary's paid for setting the psalm, and the parish-priest for reading the ceremony. 1754Fielding Jon. Wild iv. i, In Newgate..the ordinary himself..declared that he was a cursed rogue, but no conjurer. 1818Hazlitt Eng. Poets v. (1870) 187 He is a kind of Ordinary, not of Newgate, but of nature. 1900Sir W. Besant in Daily News 3 Sept. 6/2 The prisoner was conveyed to the spot in a cart beside his own coffin, while the ordinary sat beside him and exhorted him.
†5. A stage prompter. Obs.
1602Carew Cornwall 71 b, The players..are prompted by one called the Ordinary, who followeth at their back with the booke in his hand.
†6. A courier conveying dispatches or letters at regular intervals; hence, post, mail. Obs. (= F. ordinaire, 17th c. in Littré.)
1667Temple Lett. to Gourville Wks. 1731 II. 32 By the last Ordinary from Spain, it appears that they dream no more of War there than they do of Fire. 1704Swift Operation of Spirit Wks. 1768 I. 202, I have not had a line..these three last ordinaries. 1730Owen Swiny in G. Colman Posth. Lett. (1820) 26, I have recd no answer, as yet,..but hope to have one by y⊇ next week's ordinary.
†7. A staff of officers in regular attendance or service: cf. ordinary a. 3 b. Obs.
1526in Househ. Ord. (1790) 165 The ordinary of the King's chamber which have bouche of Court & also their dietts within the Court. [Here follows a list of officers of the Household.]
8. Naut.
†a. (See quot. 1769.) Obs.
a1642Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts iii. (1704) 323/1 He is to take care to pay the Ordinary of the Navy every Quarter. 1702Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) V. 230 Resolv'd, that 129,314{pstlg}. 18s. 03d. be allowed for the ordinary of the navy. 1757Robertson in Phil. Trans. L. 31 They were all labouring men, belonging to the ordinary of Portsmouth yard. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Ordinary, the establishment of the persons employed by the government to take charge of the ships of war, which are laid-up in..harbour. These are..composed of the warrant-officers of the said ships,..and their servants. There is besides a crew of labourers enrolled in the list of the ordinary.
b. (See quot. 1863.) Chiefly in phr. in ordinary (of a ship), laid up or out of commission (also fig.).
1754Ess. Manning Fleet 24 Warrant-Officers doing Duty on Board any Ships in Ordinary. 1847J. Wilson Chr. North (1857) I. 242 The crutch is laid up in ordinary. 1863P. Barry Dockyard Econ. 192 Dockyard ordinaries is merely another name for reserves of ships of war. When ships of war are said to be in ordinary, the meaning is that they are in one of three stages of readiness for commission and active service. 1898J. K. Laughton in Trans. R. Hist. Soc. XII. 89 ‘In ordinary’ at that time [1805] meant being repaired, or waiting to be repaired, but certainly not fit for service.
II. Rule, ordinance, ordinal. (= med.L. ordinārius, ordinārium.)
†9.
a. A formula or rule prescribing a certain order or course of action; an ordinance, regulation, prescript.
b. A prescribed or customary course or procedure; regular custom or wont. Obs.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 10910 Wyþ þese prestes hyt shulde fare so Whan here parysshenes oghete mysdo, Wyþ feyre techyng, gode spelles,..And wyþ ordynaryys of holy cherche. c1450Cov. Myst. ix. (Shaks. Soc.) 87 To obey the ordenaryes of the temple echeon. 1526in Househ. Ord. (1790) 140 The Serjeant of the bakehouse..to make & bake the bread..according to the auntient ordinary of the house⁓hold. 1594Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits (1616) 193 Oft times they procure the feauer, and their ordinarie is to make melancholie by adustion.
10. A rule prescribing, or book containing, the order of divine service, esp. that of the mass; the established order or form for saying mass; the service of the mass, or that part preceding and following the canon. Usu. with capital initial, in the Roman Catholic rite, those parts of a service, esp. the mass, which do not vary from day to day; spec., those unvarying parts which form the mass as a musical setting (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei). Also transf., of other rites.
1494Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxii. 245 Bokes, that were occupyed in the deuyne seruyce of the Churche, as the Ordynall or Consuetudynary, the whiche..is nowe named Salysbury vse, or the ordinary after Salysbury vse. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. i. §23 Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, devised that Ordinary or form of service, which hereafter was observed in the whole kingdom. a1832Mackintosh Revol. 1688 Wks. 1846 II. 263 The judicial determinations, which recognised his [the King's] right..to make ordinaries for the outward rule of the Church. 1905Proctor & Frere New Hist. Bk. Common Prayer (rev. ed.) i. 12 In the Liturgy, the ‘Canon’ or central prayer..was the Roman canon, and in fact the rest of the invariable framework of the public service (or ‘Ordinary’) was that adopted from Rome. 1929E. C. Thomas Lay Folks' Hist. Liturgy i. v. 22 These Nestorian Liturgies differ in the Anaphora, but the Ordinary of the Mass is the same in all. 1944W. Apel Harvard Dict. Mus. 427/2 Around 500, the Mass consisted only of the chants of the Proper, alternating with lections from the Epistles, etc. Gradually, the chants of the Ordinary were introduced, probably in the following chronological order: Sanctus, Kyrie, Gloria, Agnus Dei, Credo. Ibid. 523/2 Other services [than the Mass]..also comprise invariable and variable portions. For instance, the Magnificat forms a part of the Ordinary of Vespers. 1974Daily Tel. 20 July 7/8 Surely the way Haydn in his 70s appears tormented by sudden doubts at the word ‘mortuorum’ belies the confidence of the preceding ‘Et expecto resurrectionem’, uniquely so in any setting of the Ordinary. 1976Gramophone Apr. 1653/3 It is found in ninth-century manuscripts and may well be connected with two well-known items of the Ordinary, Sanctus I and Sanctus XI.
†11. A devotional manual containing instructions for the conduct of life. Obs.
1502Ord. Crysten Men colophon, Here endeth the booke named the Ordynarye of Crysten Men,..enprynted in Flete Strete by Wynken de Worde. 1578Scoloker (title) The Ordenarye for all faythfull Chrystians to leade a Vertuous and Godly lyfe.
III. Something ordinary, regular, or usual. (From the adj. in Fr. or Eng.)
†12. A lecture read at regular or stated times.
1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) VIII. 219 Hit happede seynte Edmunde to forgete that impression..by studyenge for an ordinary to be redde in the morowe foloynge. c1500in Peacock Stat. Cambridge (1841) App. A. p. xliv, The Bedellys shall sett the Doctor from hys place to the commyn Scolys to rede his Ordinarye.
†13. Customary fare; a regular daily meal or allowance of food; by extension, a fixed portion, an allowance of anything (= F. ordinaire). Obs.
1481Caxton Myrr. iii. xvi. 173 They..reteyne and kepe more goodes and richesses than [printed that] they nede for their ordynarye. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. II. 20/2 Albeit..his house is frequented..of the nobilitie..yet his ordinarie is so good, that a verie few set feasts are provided for them. 1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 129 Giue him rather some Hay to eat, than to lead him to water, and after that to giue him his ordinarie of Oats. 1667Decay Chr. Piety viii. §44 Nor is he now to be lookt on as a gentleman, whose single ordinary costs not as much as would be..a fair exhibition for some whole families. a1668Sir W. Waller Div. Medit. (1839) 45 Behemoth is satisfied with that ordinary which the mountaines bring him forth.
14. a. A public meal regularly provided at a fixed price in an eating-house or tavern; also, formerly, the company frequenting such a meal, the ‘table’.
1589Nashe Ded. Greene's Menaphon (Arb.) 17 They might have..dinde everie daie at the pease porredge ordinarie with Delphrigus. 1650Fuller Pisgah iii. vi. 328 He kept a daily Ordinary (thanks being the only shot his guests were to pay). 1678Yng. Mans Call. 58 Civil and loving society..is natures table of ordinary. 1709Steele Tatler No. 135 ⁋6 In the presence of the whole Ordinary that were now gathered about him in the Garden. 1771Mackenzie Man Feel. xix. (1886) 41 A board hung out of a window signifying, ‘An excellent Ordinary on Saturdays and Sundays’. 1887H. Smart Cleverly won v, Joe..played a very good knife and fork at the farmers' ordinary. 1908G. B. Shaw Lett. to Granville Barker (1956) 114 Charlotte at a farmers' ordinary at Towcester was immense. 1928Daily Chron. 9 Aug. 4/4 Lord Beaconfield [sic] was accustomed to make some of his most important pronouncements at the farmers' ordinary at Aylesbury. 1976N. Roberts Face of France xv. 157 The establishment in an English market town which still does a good farmers' ordinary.
fig.1750W. Kenrick (title) The Kapélion, or Poetical Ordinary; consisting of Great Variety of Dishes in Prose and Verse. 1816Coleridge Lay Serm. 327 The two public ordinaries of literature, the circulating library and the periodical press.
b. An eating-house or tavern where public meals are provided at a fixed price; a dining-room in such a building.
In the 17th cent. the more expensive ordinaries were frequented by men of fashion, and the dinner was usually followed by gambling; hence the term was often used as synonymous with ‘gambling-house’.
1590Payne Descr. Irel. (1841) 8 A man may be as well and cleanely tabled at an English house in Ireland..as at the best ordinarie in England. 1631T. Powell Tom All Trades (1876) 141 The unwholsome ayre of an Eightpenny Ordinarie. 1712Swift Let. Eng. Tongue Wks. 1755 II. i. 189 All the odd words they have picked up in a coffee-house or a gaming ordinary. 1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 278 The plaintiff had no right to insist upon going into the ordinary or any other particular room. 1883J. Hawthorne Dust III. 286 In one of the narrow streets leading towards Cheapside she noticed a small inn or ordinary.
c. In parts of the United States, as Virginia: A tavern or inn of any kind.
1637in Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. (1869) IX. 55 Mr. John Holgraue..hath undertaken to keep an ordinary for the entertainment of strangers. 1650Archives of Maryland (1883) I. 294 Wine or other Provisions to bee expended in any Ordinaries within this Province. 1680in New Hampsh. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1866) VIII. 15 What person soever..shall profane ye Lord's Day..by Dining at ordinarys in time of publique worship..shall forfeite 10s. 1774P. V. Fithian Jrnl. in Amer. Hist. Rev. V. 315 All Taverns they [Virginians] call ‘Ordinary's’. 1775A. Burnaby Trav. 83 When he went into an ordinary [Note, Inns are so called in America]. 1866Whittier Marg. Smith's Jrnl. Pr. Wks. 1889 I. 19 Sir Thomas..excused himself for the time..and rode on to the ordinary.
†d. A gambling game carried on at an ordinary.
1684Lond. Gaz. No. 1950/4 Rafflings, Ordinaries, and other publick Games.
15. Her.
a. A charge of the earliest, simplest, and commonest kind, usually bounded by straight lines, but sometimes engrailed, wavy, indented, etc.
The principal charges so classed are the Chief, Pale, Bend, Bend-sinister, Fess, Bar, Chevron, Cross, and Saltire.
1610J. Guillim Heraldry ii. iii. (1660) 53 Those Charges..which..do peculiarly belong to this Art, and are of ordinary use therein, in regard whereof they are called Ordinaries. Ibid. iii. xxvi. (1611) 182 Sometimes you shall find this bird borne in the forme of some Ordinary, [as] displaied in Pale, three of them one aboue another. 1882Cussans Handbk. Her. (ed. 3) iv. 56 Armorists usually divide the Ordinaries into Honourable Ordinaries and Sub-ordinaries.
b. Hence, Ordinary of Arms, applied (erron.) to a book or work of reference in which heraldic bearings are arranged in some methodical order and referred to the persons or families who bear them; the converse of an Armoury, arranged in the order of the names of the persons.
This appears to have originated in a misunderstanding (perh. through a colloquial Ordinary Book) of the appellation Book of Ordinaries properly applied in 1628 by John Withie to the MS. work of R. Glover, Somerset Herald (1571–88). R. Glover's own MS., Brit. Mus. Tib. D. x, has no title.
1628J. Withie Harl. MS. 1459 This is a true coppie of a booke of Armes; (otherwise called a booke of Ordinaries) wch was trickt and written by the hands of the late worthy gent: Robert Glouer Esquire Somerset-Herauld. a1726H. Wanley Descr. Harl. MS. 1078 A large collection of the Arms of English Families disposed by way of Ordinary... But a table shewing the Order of this Ordinary is wanting. 1780Edmondson Heraldry title-p. [contains inter alia] Glover's Ordinary of Arms, augmented and improved. Ibid. Contents, A Copious Ordinary of Arms, originally compiled by Robert Glover, Somerset Herald, and now enlarged and improved.
16. a. Ordinary condition, course, run, degree; ordinary state of health, etc. (In quots. 1672, 1710 = ordinary or regular course of reading.) the ordinary, what is customary or usual. Now colloq.
1581Savile Tacitus, Hist. iv. xiii. (1591) 177 Of a crafty and suttle wit, aboue the ordinary of those barbarous people. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. v. 42, I see no more in you then in the ordinary Of Natures sale-worke. 1672J. Fraser in Sel. Biol. (Wodrow Soc.) II. 152 Reading in my ordinary, I read these words Hag. ii. 17. 1710Col. Blackader Diary 2 July in Life xvi. (1834) 397 In reading the Scripture in my Ordinary I got both reproof and instruction. 1846J. Hamilton Mount of Olives vii. 150 If he is in his ‘frail ordinary’ he is content. 1893Chicago Advance 14 Sept., Something out of the ordinary was anticipated. 1909Times Lit. Suppl. 20 May 185/2 Shakespeare introduces the ordinary, whether in characters or in events, only as a foil to the extraordinary. 1977‘D. Cory’ Bennett iv. 121 The case I'm engaged on..is rather out of the ordinary. 1978Atlanta Jrnl. & Constitution 14 Jan. 23t (Advt.), Tapas. When you're fed up with the ordinary... Our European chef proudly presents over 40 delightfully different hot and cold appetizer treats.
b. An ordinary thing or person; something of usual or commonplace character. rare.
1624Bacon Cons. War w. Sp. Wks. 1879 I. 542/2 At that time Spain had no other wars save those of the Low Countries, which were grown into the ordinary. 1647Ward Simp. Cobler 17, I would not have..my Animall Spirits purged any way but by my Naturall, and those by my bodily humours, and those by such Ordinaries as have the nearest vicinage to them. 1897Chicago Advance 2 Sept. 314/1 To touch and lift the common life about him, till its veriest ordinaries should feel the thrill of the new life.
c. One of a class of inmates in a poor-house.
1910Daily Chron. 14 Jan. 8/5 The ‘ordinaries’ (whom we should call able-bodied) were able to roam all over the building.
17. Applied to various things of the more or most usual class or type, to distinguish them from others of some special sort.
† a. A particular make or variety of kersey. Obs. b. An ungeared bicycle of the earlier type, with one large and one very small wheel. So called for some years after the introduction of the ‘Safety’ type, c 1885. c. An ordinary share (as distinguished from preference shares, etc.).
a.1552Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI, c. 6 §12 Kersies called Ordinaries..being well scowred, thicked, milled, dressed and fully dried, shall weigh xx. li. at the least.
b.1888Cycl. Tour. Club Gaz. Sept. 369 A youth who, on sighting us..forthwith mounted his ordinary, rode out of the yard [etc.]. 1898Cycling 84 Osmond at his best on the Ordinary was riding when the rear-driver began to establish itself as a racing cycle.
c.1898Westm. Gaz. 9 Mar. 8/2 The market values the ordinaries at over 115–16. 1900Ibid. 21 Aug. 7/3 Last year the ordinaries were divided into {pstlg}1 shares. 1964Financial Times 23 Mar. 12/3 Plans are being considered to fund back indebtedness through..a 1-for-1 rights issue of 5s Ordinary at par.
†18. Phrases.
a. (These might equally be placed under the adj.) of, for, in ordinary (= F. d'ordinaire, pour l'ordinaire), in the ordinary course, as a regular custom or practice, ordinarily. Obs.
1556J. Heywood Spider & F. lii. 17 Spiders of ordinarie haue store Of all municion, for warrs redie rated. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xviii. (Arb.) 202 In his Oration which ye know is of ordinary to be made before the Prince at the first assembly of both houses. 1596Danett tr. Comines (1614) 344 Twise that weeke, once of ordinarie, and once for those that came to be cured of the Kings euill. 1762Kames Elem. Crit. (1763) I. ii. 87 May we not with equal reason derive from self-love the affection a man for ordinary has to them [children]? 1808Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 112 We shall man them, in ordinary, but with their navigating crew of eight or ten good seamen.
b. in ordinary added to official designations: app. an expansion of ordinary (see ordinary a. 3 b), and like it opposed to extraordinary, as chaplain-in-ordinary to his Majesty, physician-in-ordinary to the Prince of Wales.
a1639Wotton Life Dk. Buckingham in Reliq. (1651) 78 There is conveyed to Master Villiers an intimation of the Kings pleasure..to be..his Cup-bearer at large; and the Summer following he was admitted in Ordinary. a1683Walton Angler i. (1886) 14 Therefore I think my eagle is so justly styled ‘Jove's servant in ordinary’. a1686Fell (T.), He..was soon after made chaplain in ordinary to his majesty. 1707J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. iii. 550 (List of Queen's Officers and Servants), Physicians in Ordinary to her Majesty's Person. 1737Ibid. ii. iii. 245 (Establishmt. of her Majesty's Household), Ladies of the Bed-Chamber in Ordinary,..Ladies of the Bed-Chamber Extraordinary. Ibid. 247 Upholster in Ordinary. 1934Burlington Mag. Oct. 182/2 In this very year, January 1431, the King's painter to Charles IX of France was Henry Mellein, and his painter-in-ordinary was Conrad de Vulcop. 1944Ibid. Dec. 307/1 Jacques d'Arthois, painter-in-ordinary of the Forêt de Soignes, is one of the leading figures of the Brussels landscape school of the seventeenth century.
19. attrib. and Comb.
a. in sense 14, as ordinary supper, ordinary-keeper, ordinary-keeping, etc.; ordinary table, the table at which an ordinary was served and which was afterwards cleared for gambling; hence, a gambling-table or gambling-house.
1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 152 Frequent not those ordinary tables, wher..yee both spend your money vainely, and your time idly. 1635Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 93 We were well used: 6d. ordinary supper, and 4d. breakfast. 1645in Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. (1869) IX. 136 To provide for a ordinarie keeper. 1662Archives of Maryland (1883) I. 447 All Ordinary Keepers debts either upon bill or accompt..shall be allowed due. 1681Connect. Col. Rec. (1859) III. 78 He shall give publique notice..at a town meeting or by a writing set up upon the ordinary or mill dore. 1685Col. Rec. Pennsylv. I. 166 That Ordinary Keepers within Philadelphia should bring in their Lycences on this day. 1710Providence Rec. (1896) X. 113 Anne Tirpin tooke a licence for Ordinary Keeping and gave bond. 1883Croft in Elyot's Gov. 274 note, ‘Hells’ in England..were previously known as ‘Ordinary-Tables’.
b. in sense 8, as ordinary ship, etc.; † ordinary-man (see quot. 1769).
a1642Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts iii. (1704) 325/2 The Victualling of the Ordinary Ship keepers. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Matelots-gardien, the ordinary-men attending a royal dock-yard, and it's harbour or dock.
Hence ˈordinaryist, one who rides an ‘ordinary’ bicycle: see 17 b. ˈordinaryship, the quality, dignity, or personality of an ordinary.
1889Pall Mall G. 10 May 1/1 Taken altogether, the riding of the safety men was infinitely better than that of the *ordinaryists. 1891Wheeling 4 Mar. 426 On a wet day a safety rider is simply coated with mud, while the ordinaryist is comparatively clean.
a1661Fuller (Webster), The same..doth not destroy his *ordinaryship, but only showeth that he was made an ordinary in an extraordinary manner. 1830Westm. Rev. XIII. 451 His Ordinaryship sitting in three new characters at once.
▪ II. ordinary, a. (adv.)|ˈɔːdɪnərɪ|
Also 5–6 orden-, -yn-, 7 ordn-.
[ad. L. ordināri-us regular, orderly, customary, usual, f. ordo, ordin-, order: see -ary1. Cf. F. ordinaire (OF. ordenaire, 13th c.), whence some of the uses are taken.]
A. adj.
†1. Conformable to order or rule; regular; orderly, methodical. Obs.
1529More Dyaloge ii. Wks. 183/2 Yf it were thus, God hadde lefte none ordinarye waye for his ghospell and fayth to be taught. 1555W. Watreman Fardle Facions App. 314 Those [lawes] that he left written by piecemeale..we haue framed toguether into one ordenarie treatise. 1638R. Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II.) 37 Stay your selfe within the bounds of ordinary justice. 1639I. W. tr. Guibert's Charit. Physic. title-p., The advice of the best and ordinariest physitians.
2. Of a judge: Having regular jurisdiction, i.e. exercising authority by virtue of office and not by special deputation; esp. empowered ex officio to take cognizance of ecclesiastical or spiritual cases: now only in special collocations (cf. ordinary n. 1, 2). Of jurisdiction, ecclesiastical power, etc.: Exercised ex officio (now merged in 3).
Judge Ordinary: (a) the judge of the Court for Divorce (formerly a branch of ecclesiastical judicature); (b) in Scotland, the sheriff of a county. Lord Ordinary: see quot. 1861.
1483Caxton Cato A viij, To understonde the sentence of thy Iuge competent and ordynarye. 1534Act 26 Hen. VIII, c. 3 §7 Archebysshoppes and bysshoppes, and all other hauing iurisdiction ordinary. a1600Hooker Eccl. Pol. viii. viii. §3 Our judges in causes ecclesiastical are either ordinary or commissionary: ordinary, those whom we term ordinaries, and such, by the laws of this land, are none but prelates only. 1656Bramhall Replic. v. 200 They have yet another evasion, that the highest ecclesiasticall power was given..to Saint Peter as an ordinary Pastor to descend from him to his Successors. 1834[see ordinary n. 2]. 1861W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 600/1 Lord Ordinary. In the Court of Session, the judge before whom a cause depends in the Outer-House is called the Lord Ordinary in that cause. And the judge who officiates in the Bill-Chamber is called the Lord Ordinary on the Bills. 1872Wharton's Law Lex. (ed. 5), Judge Ordinary, the judge of the Court for Divorce.
3. a. Belonging to the regular or usual order or course; having a place in a fixed or regulated sequence; occurring in the course of regular custom or practice; regular, normal, customary, usual.
ordinary ray: see quot. 1831 (cf. extraordinary 1 d).
c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. vi. (1885) 120 Ordinance ffor the Kynges ordinarie charges. 1577Harrison England ii. vi. (1877) i. 148 The servants haue their ordinarie diet assigned. 1607–12Bacon Ess., Atheism (Arb.) 330/1 God never wrought miracle to convince Atheistes because his ordinary workes convince them. 1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 145 It proves a very useful, good water for the ordinary purposes of families. 1831Brewster Optics xvii. §90. 146 The ray..is refracted according to the ordinary law of refraction..[and] is therefore called the ordinary ray. 1875Jevons Money (1878) 250 In ordinary life we use a great many words with a total disregard of logical precision.
b. Of officials, persons employed, etc.: Belonging to the regular staff or to the fully recognized class of such. Cf. extraordinary 2. Now mostly represented by -in-ordinary: see ordinary n. 18.
[1508Chamerlane ordinare: see ordinar a.] 1555W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. x. 231 The Emperour..neuer speaketh to any foreine ambassadours,..excepte bothe thei and their giftes..bee purified by the ordenarie women. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 1136/1 There were in the towne of Calis fiue hundred English souldiors ordinarie,..and of the townesmen not fullie two hundred fighting men. 1592Greene Disput. 21, I was an ordinary dauncer. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iii. vi, A grave and learned Minister, and an ordinary Preacher at Alcmar in Holland. 1737J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. iii. 117 Military Branch of the Ordnance..Engineer-Ordinary, Joseph Day.
c. Phr. more than ordinary: (a) more in number or amount than is usual; (b) with adj. or n.; to a greater degree than is usual, unusual, exceptional; also advb. unusually, exceptionally. Obs., arch., or dial. So greater, better, worse (etc.) than ordinary.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 339 b, He that taketh yerely of his subjectes more than ordinarye, .iii. C. M. Ducates. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xx. (Arb.) 264 Surplusage..lieth not only in a word or two more than ordinary, but in whole clauses. 1644Milton Areop. (Arb.) 57 Though a licencer should happ'n to be judicious more then ordinary. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. iv. §9 There was a more than ordinary multiplication of the world from the Sons of Noah after the Flood. 1670Eachard Cont. Clergy 122 The clouds being more than ordinary thick. a1704Locke (J.), This designation of the person our author is more than ordinary obliged to take care of. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. ii. 11 When she aimed to be worse tempered than ordinary. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xix. 197 If Eva, now, was not more angel than ordinary, she would be ruined.
d. Of language, usage, discourse, etc.: that most commonly found or attested, spec. as contrasted with logical symbolism or a specialized terminology.
1685tr. Arnauld & Nicole's Logic ii. x. 221 As when I say, All Men have two Arms. This Proposition ought to pass for true, according to ordinary use. Ibid. iii. xv. 70 Whereas it is the method of the Schools to propound the Argument entire, and afterwards to prove the Proposition which receives the difficulty, that which is usual in ordinary discourse, is to join to doubtful propositions the Proofs that confirm 'em. 1690Locke Essay Hum. Und. ii. xxi. 121 Philosophy it self,..must have so much Complacency, as to be cloathed in the ordinary Fashion and Language of the Country. 1828J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. IX. 145 Arranging all these propositions in that order, which (so strongly does ordinary language corroborate our view of the case) is termed their logical order. 1843― Logic I. i. i. 25 We must begin by recognising the distinctions made by ordinary language. Ibid. II. iv. v. 268 These changes, by which words in ordinary use become more and more generalized. 1874W. Wallace tr. Hegel's Logic 43 The deeper and philosophical meaning of truth can be partially traced even in the expressions of ordinary language. 1892― Ibid. (ed. 2) 52 The deeper and philosophical meaning of truth can be partially traced even in the ordinary usage of language. 1902W. James Var. Relig. Exper. ii. 36 Trifling, sneering attitudes even towards the whole of life... It would strain the ordinary use of language too much to call such attitudes religious. 1906B. Russell in Mind XV. 256 One of the objects to be aimed at in using symbols is that they should be free from the ambiguities of ordinary language. 1909W. M. Urban Valuation ii. 33 Our ordinary usage, at least, makes a clear distinction between feeling and will. 1932H. H. Price Perception viii. 256 We also stick to common sense and the ordinary usage of language. 1939Mind XLVIII. 62 While it is true that a formal calculus frequently assists in detecting errors which are unnoticed in ordinary language, each formal calculus carries with it new sources of confusion. 1949Mind LVIII. 147 The redefinitions which are implicit in philosophical paradoxes do quite often..receive a certain backing from ordinary usage. 1951J. Holloway Lang. & Intelligence viii. 123 Ordinary language is the language of persons unacquainted even with the idea of conforming to a dictionary. 1957J. Passmore 100 Yrs. Philos. xviii. 438 Not all ex-students of Wittgenstein look with kindness on the ‘ordinary language’ philosophies which have latterly dominated the philosophical scene at Oxford. 1977Oxford Times 9 Dec. 5/3 He is the leading exponent of ordinary language philosophy, and became a fellow of the British Academy in 1960.
†4.
a. Of common or everyday occurrence; frequent: abundant. Obs.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. iv. 115 Be patient (Princes) you doe know, these Fits Are with his Highnesse very ordinarie. 1675tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. iii. (1688) 324 Tobacco-Shops are now as ordinary in most Towns as Tap-houses and Taverns. 1725Sloane Jamaica II. 323 These are very ordinary here, but thrive not..for want of water.
†b. Commonly practised or experienced; common, customary, usual. Chiefly predicative, in phr. it is ordinary, or an ordinary thing (with a person to do something, etc.). Obs.
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. ii. §3 It hath been ordinary with politique men to extenuate and disable learned men by the names of pedantes. 1670Baxter Cure Ch.-Div. 167 It is very ordinary with poor fanciful women..to take all their deep apprehensions for revelations. 1709Steele Tatler No. 5 ⁋2 Her Eyes are intent upon one who looks from her; which is ordinary with the Sex. Ibid. No. 27 ⁋6 It is ordinary for Love to make Men Poetical. 1794Paley Evid. i. v. §4 (1817) 98 This proves that a morality, more pure and strict than was ordinary, prevailed..in Christian societies.
5. a. Of the usual kind, such as is commonly met with, not singular or exceptional. Often in depreciatory use: Not above, or somewhat below, the usual level of quality; commonplace, somewhat inferior; also (now dial. or colloq.) ordinary-looking, ‘plain’, ‘ugly, not handsome’ (Johnson).
ordinary seaman: see quot. 1769.
1590Webbe Trav. (Arb.) 18 We were set to wipe the feet of the kings horses, and to become ordinarie slaues in the said Court. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 220 A common name for ordinary Hackney-horses. 1661Rust Origen's Opin. in Phenix (1721) I. 81 They were Men of ordinary Intellectuals. 1667Primatt City & C. Build. 71 There is those that do it for four shillings a peece; but very ordinary work. 1710Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 52 His Books are very mean and ordinary. 1752Hume Ess. i. i. (1788) 20 The most ordinary machine is sufficient to tell the hours, but the most elaborate alone can point out the minutes and seconds. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Ordinary..is likewise used to distinguish the inferior sailors from the more expert... The latter are rated able on the navy-books. a1847Mrs. Sherwood Lady of Manor III. xx. 148 Lady Anne was..remarkable for her ordinary appearance, her person being clumsy, and her face spoiled by the small-pox. 1848C. Brontë J. Eyre v, Miss Miller was more ordinary; ruddy in complexion. 1879Paper & Print. Trades Jrnl. No. 29. 5 The get-up and printing of both works being of the most ordinary character. 1883Knowledge 10 Aug. 95/1 In Cambridgeshire..‘An ordinary child’ was ‘a plain child’.
b. ordinary wine (Fr. vin ordinaire). Cf. ordinaire n.
1814M. Birkbeck Notes Journey through France 102 Such is the habitual temperance..that the inns..seldom have any liquor stronger than their ordinary wine. If you call for brandy, they are obliged to send for it to the Caffé. 1860Dickens Uncomm. Trav. (1861) vii. 92, I was in the dear old France of my affections. I should have known it, without the well-remembered bottle of rough ordinary wine.
c. Comm. Of shares, stock, etc.: forming part of the common stock and without ‘preference’; also applied to shareholders holding such stock.
1869Bradshaw's Railway Manual XXI. 10 No dividend was declared in March on the ordinary stock. Ibid. 42 An obligation..to pay to the ordinary shareholders a dividend..at the rate of 2 per cent. 1878[see preference 8]. 1891[see share n.3 2]. 1955Times 12 May 17/7 The issue of three shares to Ordinary shareholders for every five which they hold at present. Ibid. 1 July 16/5 The balance-sheet shows the increase in ordinary share capital arising from this capitalization and the manner in which the reserves have been applied. 1974Terminol. Managem. & Financial Accountancy (Inst. Cost & Managem. Accountants) 60 Ordinary shares, shares which entitle the holders to the remaining divisible profits (and, in a liquidation, the assets) remaining after prior interests (e.g. preference shareholders) have been satisfied. 1977Times 1 Dec. 20/7 Earning per Ordinary Share 4.44p... Ordinary Dividend 3.4914p.
d. Of people: typical of a particular group; average; without exceptional experience or expert knowledge.
1855Geo. Eliot Let. 12 May (1954) II. 201, I really think a taste for descriptive writing is the rarest of all tastes among ordinary people. 1902G. B. Shaw Mrs. Warren's Profession Pref. p. xvii, The ordinary Briton thinks that if every other Briton is not under some form of tutelage..he will abuse his freedom viciously. 1903― Man & Superman iii. 76 But I am well aware that the ordinary man—even the ordinary brigand, who can scarcely be called an ordinary man (Hear, hear!)—is not a philosopher. 1922M. A. von Arnim Enchanted April iii. 50, I don't think references are nice things at all..between ordinary decent women. 1952A. Christie Mrs McGinty's Dead ii. 21 It's not the sort of thing that an ordinary man—or a jury—can believe. 1971Listener 28 Oct. 566/1 The language of everyday speech is used in verse..because the role of the poet is an ordinary-man role. 1974Times 11 Oct. 14/8 A government claiming that it wants to involve ordinary people in decision-making. 1975T. Heald Deadline ii. 19 The Globe..made its appeal to ‘the man in the street’. Leader writers were instructed..to spice their texts with frequent references to ‘ordinary folk’.
e. ordinary level, the lowest of the three levels of the General Certificate of Education; abbrev. O level (O 5 d).
1947Examinations Secondary Schools (Secondary Schools Exam. Council) 8 An examination at ‘Ordinary’, ‘Advanced’ and ‘Scholarship’ levels should be available each year to candidates who are at least sixteen on Sept. 1st. 1959Listener 29 Jan. 195/2 The arts sixth former who has perhaps ‘done’ a little science to ‘ordinary level’. 1960–1Where Winter 14/1 Ordinary (O) level is normally taken at 16 after a 5-year course. 1963Barnard & Lauwerys Handbk. Brit. Educ. Terms 99 In 1951 the School and Higher School Certificate examinations in secondary schools were replaced by a General Certificate of Education..examination at three levels—ordinary, advanced, and scholarship. 1978Nature 27 Apr. 784/1 Asimov carefully explains the inverse-square law of force in a manner that should be comprehensible to a pupil considered incapable of taking ordinary level school physics.
†6. Not distinguished by rank or position; belonging to the commonalty; of low degree; pertaining to, or characteristic of, the common people; common, vulgar; unrefined, low, coarse. Cf. ornery a. Obs.
1659Pearson Creed (1839) 117 The ordinary Jews had lost the exact understanding of the old Hebrew language. 1722De Foe Plague (1756) 79 Expressions, such as..even the worst and ordinariest People in the Street would not use. 1741Chesterfield Lett. (1792) I. 209 To speak of Mr. What-d'ye-call-him, or Mrs. Thingum,..is excessively awkward and ordinary. Ibid., They are the distinguishing marks of the ordinary people. Ibid. 255 Most women and all the ordinary people in general speak in open defiance of all grammar. 1800Aurora (Philadelphia) 1 May 2/3 This ordinary drunken wretch is supposed to be the perpetrator.
7. Phrases: see ordinary n. 18.
†B. adv. In an ordinary manner; according to, or as a matter of, regular practice; in ordinary cases, commonly, ordinarily. Obs.
1596Danett tr. Comines (1614) 24 My selfe was resident there,..being lodged at the Tournelles, and ordinary eating and lodging in the Court. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 241 They mounted without other stirrop..not only when they were ordinary attired in common garments, but then also when they were armed. 1697tr. C'tess D'Annoy's Trav. (1706) 56 Their Sword oftentimes hangs by their side tied with a bit of Cord, and ordinary without a Scabbard. 1798Invasion I. 276 When you are quite ordinary dressed, so that no one could guess you for ladies.
C. Comb., as ordinary-looking, ordinary-sized adjs.
1818Scott Rob Roy xx, One or two starched and ordinary-looking mechanics stood beside and behind me. 1831Brewster Nat. Magic xi. (1833) 274 It is capable of accommodating an ordinary-sized man. 1891S. Mostyn Curatica 2 That other young man, who..had a turned-up nose, and was quite ordinary looking. |