Emily Dickinson Lexicon

IN'STI-TUTE, n. [L. institutum; Fr. institut.]

1. Established law; settled order.
2. Precept; maxim; principle. To make the Stoic institutes thy own. Dryden.
3. A book of elements or principles; particularly a work containing the principles of the Roman law. Encyc.
4. In Scots law, when a number of persons in succession hold an estate in tail, the first is called the institute, the others substitutes. Encyc.