In`sti*tu"tion (?), n.
[L. institutio: cf. F. institution.]
1.
The act or process of
instituting; as: (a)
Establishment; foundation; enactment;
as, the institution of a school.
The institution of God's law is described as being established by solemn injunction.
Hooker. (b) Instruction;
education. [Obs.] Bentley.
(c) (Eccl. Law) The act or ceremony of investing a clergyman with the spiritual part of a benefice, by which the care of souls is
committed to his charge. Blackstone.
2. That which instituted or
established; as: (a) Established order,
method, or custom; enactment; ordinance; permanent form of law or polity.
The nature of our people,
Our city's
institutions.
Shak. (b) An established or organized society or corporation; an establishment, especially of a public character, or affecting a community; a foundation; as, a literary institution; a charitable institution; also, a building or
the buildings occupied or used by such organization; as, the Smithsonian Institution. (c) Anything forming a characteristic and persistent feature in social or
national life or habits.
We
ordered a lunch (the most delightful of English institutions, next to dinner) to be
ready against our return.
Hawthorne. 3. That
which institutes or instructs;
a textbook; a system of
elements or rules; an institute. [Obs.]
There is another manuscript, of above three hundred years old, . . . being an institution of physic.
Evelyn.
Hear it pronounced