Emily Dickinson Lexicon

OR'CHIS, n. [L. orchis; Gr. ορχις.]

A genus of plants. Encyc.

OR'CIN, n.

A crystalizable coloring matter obtained from a species of lichen.

ORD, n. [Sax.]

An edge or point; as in ordhelm. Ord signifies beginning; as in ords and ends.

OR-DAIN, v. [L. ordino, from ordo, order; Fr. ordonner; It. ordinare; Sp. ordenar; Ir. orduighim.]

1. Properly, to set; to establish in a particular office or order; hence, to invest with a ministerial function or sacerdotal power; to introduce and establish or settle in the pastoral office with the customary forms and solemnities; as, to ordain a minister of the Gospel. In America, men are ordained over a particular church and congregation, or as evangelists without the charge of a particular church, or as deacons in the episcopal church.
2. To appoint; to decree. Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month. 1 Kings xii. As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. Acts xiii. The fatal tent, / The scene of death and place ordained for punishment. Dryden.
3. To set; to establish; to institute; to constitute. Mulmutius / Ordained our laws. Shak.
4. To set apart for an office; to appoint. Jesus ordained twelve that they should be with him. Mark iii.
5. To appoint; to prepare. For Tophet is ordained of old. Is. xxx.

OR-DAIN-A-BLE, a.

That may be appointed. Hall.

OR-DAIN-ED, pp.

Appointed; instituted; established; invested with ministerial or pastoral functions; settled.

OR-DAIN-ER, n.

One who ordains, appoints or invests with sacerdotal powers.

OR-DAIN-ING, a.

That ordains, or that has the right or power to ordain; as, an ordaining council.

OR-DAIN-ING, ppr.

Appointing; establishing; investing with sacerdotal or pastoral functions.

OR-DAIN-MENT, n.

The act of ordaining. Burke.

OR'DE-AL, n. [Sax. ordal or ordæl; G. urtheil; D. ordeel. The last syllable is deal, to divide or distribute. The sense of the prefix is less obvious. Wilkins supposes or to signify without, as in some Saxon words it has that sense, and ordeal to signify without difference or distinction of persons, entire judgment. In Saxon, ord signifies origin, cause, beginning, prime. In G. ur signifies prime, very, original; urwort, primitive word. In Dutch, oor is the ear; oorlog, war. But this prefix would seem to be the same as in furlow (furlough;) for in G. urlaub, D. oorlof, Dan. orlov, Sw. orlof, is a furlow, and this indicates that or is a corruption of far or for. In Welsh, this word is gordal, which Owen compounds of gor, high, superior, extreme, above, and tâl, reward, requital; and gordal signifies not only ordeal, but an over payment, a making satisfaction over and above. Or then may signify out, away, and in ordeal may denote ultimate, final. But the real sense is not obvious. The practice of ordeal however seems to have had its origin in the belief that the substances used had each its particular presiding deity that had perfect control over it.]

1. An ancient form of trial to determine guilt or innocence, practiced by the rude nations of Europe, and still practiced in the East Indies. In England, the ordeal was of two sorts, fire-ordeal and water-ordeal; the former being confined to persons of higher rank, the latter to the common people. Both might be performed by deputy, but the principal was to answer for the success of the trial. Fire-ordeal was performed either by taking in the hand a piece of red hot iron, or by walking barefoot and blindfold over nine red hot plowshares laid lengthwise at unequal distances; and if the person escaped unhurt, he was adjudged innocent, otherwise he was condemned as guilty. Water-ordeal was performed, either by plunging the bare arm to the elbow in boiling water, or by casting the person suspected into a river or pond of cold water, and if he floated without an effort to swim, it was an evidence of guilt, but if he sunk he was acquitted. Both in England and Sweden, the clergy presided at this trial. It was at last condemned as unlawful by the canon law, and in England it was abolished by an order in council of Henry III. Blackstone. It is probable our proverbial phrase, to go through fire and water, denoting severe trial or danger, is derived from the ordeal; as also the trial of witches by water.
2. Severe trial; accurate scrutiny.

OR'DER, n. [L. ordo; (qu. Pers. رَدَه radah, order, series;) Fr. ordre; It. ordine; Sp. orden; Sw. Dan. G. and Russ. id.; Ir. ord; but all from the Latin except the Persian.]

1. Regular disposition or methodical arrangement of things; a word of extensive application; as, the order of troops on parade; the order of books in a library; the order of proceedings in a legislative assembly. Order is the life of business. Good order is the foundation of all good things. Burke.
2. Proper state; as, the muskets are all in good order. When the bodily organs are in order, a person is in health; when they are out of order, he is indisposed.
3. Adherence to the point in discussion, according to established rules of debate; as, the member is not in order, that is, he wanders from the question.
4. Established mode of proceeding. The motion is not in order.
5. Regularity; settled mode of operation. This fact could not occur in the order of nature; it is against the natural order of things.
6. Mandate; precept; command; authoritative direction. I have received an order from the commander in chief. The general gave orders to march. There is an order of council to issue letters of marque.
7. Rule; regulation; as, the rules and orders of a legislative house.
8. Regular government or discipline. It is necessary for society that good order should be observed. The meeting was turbulent; it was impossible to keep order.
9. Rank; class; division of men; as, the order of nobles; the order of priests; the higher orders of society; men of the lowest order; order of knights; military orders, &c.
10. A religions fraternity; as, the order of Benedictines.
11. A division of natural objects, generally intermediate between class and genus, The classes, in the Linnæan artificial system, are divided into orders, which include one or more genera. Linnæus also arranged vegetables in his natural system, into groups of genera, called orders. In the natural system of Jussieu, orders are subdivisions of classes.
12. Measures; care. Take some order for the safety and support of the soldiers. Provide me soldiers / Whilst I take order for my own affairs. Shak.
13. In rhetoric, the placing of words and members in a sentence in such a manner as to contribute to force and beauty of expression, or to the clear illustration of the subject. Encyc.
14. The title of certain ancient books containing the divine office and manner of its performance. Encyc.
15. In architecture, a system of several members, ornaments and proportions of columns and pilasters; or a regular arrangement of the projecting parts of a building, especially of the columns, so as to form one beautiful whole. The orders are five, the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. The order consists of two principal members, the column, and the entablature, each of which is composed of three principal parts. Those of the column are the base, the shaft, and the capital; those of the entablature are the architrave, the frize, and the cornice. The highth of the Tuscan column is 14 modules or semidiameters of the shaft at the bottom, and that of the entablature 3 1/2. The highth of the Doric order is 16 modules, and that of the entablature 4; that of the Ionic is 18 modules, and that of the entablature 4 1/2; that of the Corinthian order is 20 modules, and that of the entablature 5. The highth of the Composite order agrees with that of the Corinthian. Encyc. In orders, set apart for the performance of divine service; ordained to the work of the Gospel ministry. In order, for the purpose; to the end; as means to an end. The best knowledge is that which is of the greatest use in order to our eternal happiness. To take orders, to have a license to preach the Gospel, and perform other ministerial functions. General orders, the commands or notices which a military commander in chief issues to the troops under his command. Holy orders, the Christian ministry.

OR'DER, v.i.

To give command or direction. Milton.

OR'DER, v.t.

1. To regulate; to methodize; to systemize; to adjust; to subject to system in management and execution; as, to order domestic affairs with prudence.
2. To lead; to conduct; to subject to rules or laws. To him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I show the salvation of God. Ps. 1.
3. To direct; to command. The general ordered his troops to advance.
4. To manage; to treat. How shall we order the child? Judges xiii.
5. To ordain. [Not used.] Whitgifte.
6. To direct; to dispose in any particular manner. Order my steps in thy word. Ps. cxix.

OR'DER-ED, pp.

Regulated; methodized; disposed; commended; managed.

OR'DER-ER, n.

1. One that gives orders.
2. One that methodizes or regulates.

OR'DER-ING, n.

Disposition; distribution. 2 Chron. xxiv.

OR'DER-ING, ppr.

Regulating; systemizing; commanding; disposing.

OR'DER-LESS, a.

Without regularity; disorderly; out of rule. Shak.

OR'DER-LI-NESS, n. [from orderly.]

1. Regularity; a state of being methodical.
2. The state of being orderly.

OR'DER-LY, a.

1. Methodical; regular. Hooker.
2. Observant of order or method. Chapman.
3. Well regulated; performed in good order; not tumultuous; as, an orderly march. Clarendon.
4. According to established method. Hooker.
5. Not unruly; not inclined to break from inclosures; peaceable. We say, cattle are orderly. Orderly book, in military affairs, a book for every company, in which the sergeants write general and regimental orders. Cyc. Orderly sergeant, a military officer who attends on a superior officer.

OR'DER-LY, adv.

Methodically; according to due order; regularly; according to rule. Shak.

ORDER-OF-THE-DAY, n. [Order of the day.]

In legislative proceedings, the particular business previously assigned for the day.

OR-DI-NA-BIL'I-TY, n.

Capability of being appointed. [Not used.] Bull.

OR'DI-NA-BLE, a.

Such as may be appointed. [Not used.] Hammond.