a. [ L. ordinarius, fr. ordo, ordinis, order: cf. F. ordinaire. See Order. ] 1. According to established order; methodical; settled; regular. “The ordinary forms of law.” Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Common; customary; usual. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Method is not less requisite in ordinary conversation that in writing. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Of common rank, quality, or ability; not distinguished by superior excellence or beauty; hence, not distinguished in any way; commonplace; inferior; of little merit; as, men of ordinary judgment; an ordinary book. [ 1913 Webster ]

An ordinary lad would have acquired little or no useful knowledge in such a way. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ordinary seaman (Naut.), one not expert or fully skilled, and hence ranking below an able seaman. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Normal; common; usual; customary. See Normal. -- Ordinary, Common. A thing is common in which many persons share or partake; as, a common practice. A thing is ordinary when it is apt to come round in the regular common order or succession of events. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Ordinaries 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'hôte; 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 ]

n. The state of being an ordinary. [ R. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]