Or*dain" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ordained (?);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Ordaining.]
[OE. ordeinen, OF.
ordener, F. ordonner, fr. L. ordinare, from ordo,
ordinis, order. See
Order, and cf. Ordinance.] 1. To set in order; to arrange according to rule; to regulate; to set; to establish. "Battle well ordained." Spenser.
The stake that shall be
ordained on either side.
Chaucer.
2. To regulate, or establish, by appointment, decree, or law; to constitute; to decree; to appoint; to institute.
Jeroboam
ordained a feast in the eighth
month.
1 Kings xii. 32.
And doth the power that man adores ordain
Their doom ?
Byron.
3. To set
apart for an office; to
appoint.
Being ordained his special governor.
Shak.
4. (Eccl.) To invest with ministerial or sacerdotal functions; to introduce into the office of
the Christian ministry, by the laying on
of hands, or other forms; to set apart by
the ceremony of ordination.
Meletius was ordained by Arian bishops.
Bp. Stillingfleet.
Hear it pronounced