\Or"der\, n. [OE. ordre, F. ordre, fr. L. ordo, ordinis.
Cf. {Ordain}, {Ordinal}.]
1. Regular arrangement; any methodical or established
   succession or harmonious relation; method; system; as:
   (a) Of material things, like the books in a library.
   (b) Of intellectual notions or ideas, like the topics of a
       discource.
   (c) Of periods of time or occurrences, and the like.
             The side chambers were . . . thirty in order.
                                               --Ezek. xli.
                                               6.
             Bright-harnessed angels sit in order
             serviceable.                      --Milton.
             Good order is the foundation of all good things.
                                               --Burke.
2. Right arrangement; a normal, correct, or fit condition;
   as, the house is in order; the machinery is out of order.
   --Locke.
3. The customary mode of procedure; established system, as in
   the conduct of debates or the transaction of business;
   usage; custom; fashion. --Dantiel.
         And, pregnant with his grander thought, Brought the
         old order into doubt.                 --Emerson.
4. Conformity with law or decorum; freedom from disturbance;
   general tranquillity; public quiet; as, to preserve order
   in a community or an assembly.
5. That which prescribes a method of procedure; a rule or
   regulation made by competent authority; as, the rules and
   orders of the senate.
         The church hath authority to establish that for an
         order at one time which at another time it may
         abolish.                              --Hooker.
6. A command; a mandate; a precept; a direction.
         Upon this new fright, an order was made by both
         houses for disarming all the papists in England.
                                               --Clarendon.
7. Hence: A commission to purchase, sell, or supply goods; a
   direction, in writing, to pay money, to furnish supplies,
   to admit to a building, a place of entertainment, or the
   like; as, orders for blankets are large.
         In those days were pit orders -- beshrew the
         uncomfortable manager who abolished them. --Lamb.
8. A number of things or persons arranged in a fixed or
   suitable place, or relative position; a rank; a row; a
   grade; especially, a rank or class in society; a group or
   division of men in the same social or other position;
   also, a distinct character, kind, or sort; as, the higher
   or lower orders of society; talent of a high order.
         They are in equal order to their several ends.
                                               --Jer. Taylor.
         Various orders various ensigns bear.  --Granville.
         Which, to his order of mind, must have seemed little
         short of crime.                       --Hawthorne.
9. A body of persons having some common honorary distinction
   or rule of obligation; esp., a body of religious persons
   or aggregate of convents living under a common rule; as,
   the Order of the Bath; the Franciscan order.
         Find a barefoot brother out, One of our order, to
         associate me.                         --Shak.
         The venerable order of the Knights Templars. --Sir
                                               W. Scott.
10. An ecclesiastical grade or rank, as of deacon, priest, or
    bishop; the office of the Christian ministry; -- often
    used in the plural; as, to take orders, or to take holy
    orders, that is, to enter some grade of the ministry.
11. (Arch.) The disposition of a column and its component
    parts, and of the entablature resting upon it, in
    classical architecture; hence (as the column and
    entablature are the characteristic features of classical
    architecture) a style or manner of architectural
    designing.
Note: The Greeks used three different orders, easy to
      distinguish, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. The Romans
      added the Tuscan, and changed the Doric so that it is
      hardly recognizable, and also used a modified
      Corinthian called Composite. The Renaissance writers on
      architecture recognized five orders as orthodox or
      classical, -- Doric (the Roman sort), Ionic, Tuscan,
      Corinthian, and Composite. See Illust. of {Capital}.
12. (Nat. Hist.) An assemblage of genera having certain
    important characters in common; as, the Carnivora and
    Insectivora are orders of Mammalia.
Note: The Linn[ae]an artificial orders of plants rested
      mainly on identity in the numer of pistils, or
      agreement in some one character. Natural orders are
      groups of genera agreeing in the fundamental plan of
      their flowers and fruit. A natural order is usually (in
      botany) equivalent to a family, and may include several
      tribes.
13. (Rhet.) The placing of words and members in a sentence in
    such a manner as to contribute to force and beauty or
    clearness of expression.
14. (Math.) Rank; degree; thus, the order of a curve or
    surface is the same as the degree of its equation.
{Artificial order} or {system}. See {Artificial
   classification}, under {Artificial}, and Note to def. 12
   above.
{Close order} (Mil.), the arrangement of the ranks with a
   distance of about half a pace between them; with a
   distance of about three yards the ranks are in {open
   order}.
{The four Orders}, {The Orders four}, the four orders of
   mendicant friars. See {Friar}. --Chaucer.
{General orders} (Mil.), orders issued which concern the
   whole command, or the troops generally, in distinction
   from special orders.
{Holy orders}.
    (a) (Eccl.) The different grades of the Christian
        ministry; ordination to the ministry. See def. 10
        above.
    (b) (R. C. Ch.) A sacrament for the purpose of conferring
        a special grace on those ordained.
{In order to}, for the purpose of; to the end; as means to.
         The best knowledge is that which is of greatest use
         in order to our eternal happiness.    --Tillotson.
{Minor orders} (R. C. Ch.), orders beneath the diaconate in
   sacramental dignity, as acolyte, exorcist, reader,
   doorkeeper.
{Money order}. See under {Money}.
{Natural order}. (Bot.) See def. 12, Note.
{Order book}.
    (a) A merchant's book in which orders are entered.
    (b) (Mil.) A book kept at headquarters, in which all
        orders are recorded for the information of officers
        and men.
    (c) A book in the House of Commons in which proposed
        orders must be entered. [Eng.]
{Order in Council}, a royal order issued with and by the
   advice of the Privy Council. [Great Britain]
{Order of battle} (Mil.), the particular disposition given to
   the troops of an army on the field of battle.
{Order of the day}, in legislative bodies, the special
   business appointed for a specified day.
{Order of a differential equation} (Math.), the greatest
   index of differentiation in the equation.
{Sailing orders} (Naut.), the final instructions given to the
   commander of a ship of war before a cruise.
{Sealed orders}, orders sealed, and not to be opened until a
   certain time, or arrival at a certain place, as after a
   ship is at sea.
{Standing order}.
    (a) A continuing regulation for the conduct of
        parliamentary business.
    (b) (Mil.) An order not subject to change by an officer
        temporarily in command.
{To give order}, to give command or directions. --Shak.
{To take order for}, to take charge of; to make arrangements
   concerning.
         Whiles I take order for mine own affairs. --Shak.
Syn: Arrangement; management. See {Direction}.

\Or"der\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Ordered}; p pr. & vb. n.
{Ordering}.] [From {Order}, n.]
1. To put in order; to reduce to a methodical arrangement; to
   arrange in a series, or with reference to an end. Hence,
   to regulate; to dispose; to direct; to rule.
         To him that ordereth his conversation aright. --Ps.
                                               1. 23.
         Warriors old with ordered spear and shield.
                                               --Milton.
2. To give an order to; to command; as, to order troops to
   advance.
3. To give an order for; to secure by an order; as, to order
   a carriage; to order groceries.
4. (Eccl.) To admit to holy orders; to ordain; to receive
   into the ranks of the ministry.
         These ordered folk be especially titled to God.
                                               --Chaucer.
         Persons presented to be ordered deacons. --Bk. of
                                               Com. Prayer.
{Order arms} (Mil.), the command at which a rifle is brought
   to a position with its but resting on the ground; also,
   the position taken at such a command.

\Or"der\, v. i.
To give orders; to issue commands.