Emily Dickinson Lexicon

OR'DI-NA-RY, a. [L. ordinarius.]

1. According to established order; methodical; regular; customary; as, the ordinary forms of law or justice. Addison.
2. Common; usual. Method is not less requisite in ordinary conversation than in writing. Addison.
3. Of common rank; not distinguished by superior excellence; as, an ordinary reader; men of ordinary judgment. Hooker.
4. Plain; not handsome; as, an ordinary woman; a person of an ordinary form; an ordinary face.
5. Inferior; of little merit; as; the book is an ordinary performance.
6. An ordinary seaman is one not expert or fully skilled.