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Ordinary Or"di*na*ry, n.; pl. {Ordinaries} (-r[i^]z). 1. (Law) (a) (Roman Law) An officer who has original jurisdiction in his own right, and not by deputation. (b) (Eng. Law) One who has immediate jurisdiction in matters ecclesiastical; an ecclesiastical judge; also, a deputy of the bishop, or a clergyman appointed to perform divine service for condemned criminals and assist in preparing them for death. (c) (Am. Law) A judicial officer, having generally the powers of a judge of probate or a surrogate. [1913 Webster]

2. The mass; the common run. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

I see no more in you than in the ordinary Of nature's salework. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

3. That which is so common, or continued, as to be considered a settled establishment or institution. [R.] [1913 Webster]

Spain had no other wars save those which were grown into an ordinary. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

4. Anything which is in ordinary or common use. [1913 Webster]

Water buckets, wagons, cart wheels, plow socks, and other ordinaries. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]

5. A dining room or eating house where a meal is prepared for all comers, at a fixed price for the meal, in distinction from one where each dish is separately charged; a table d'h[^o]te; hence, also, the meal furnished at such a dining room. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

All the odd words they have picked up in a coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as flowers of style. --Swift. [1913 Webster]

He exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and peddlers and to ordinaries. --Bancroft. [1913 Webster]

6. (Her.) A charge or bearing of simple form, one of nine or ten which are in constant use. The {bend}, {chevron}, {chief}, {cross}, {fesse}, {pale}, and {saltire} are uniformly admitted as ordinaries. Some authorities include bar, bend sinister, pile, and others. See {Subordinary}. [1913 Webster]

{In ordinary}. (a) In actual and constant service; statedly attending and serving; as, a physician or chaplain in ordinary. An ambassador in ordinary is one constantly resident at a foreign court. (b) (Naut.) Out of commission and laid up; -- said of a naval vessel.

{Ordinary of the Mass} (R. C. Ch.), the part of the Mass which is the same every day; -- called also the {canon of the Mass}. [1913 Webster]