\Or"di*nance\, n. [OE. ordenance, OF. ordenance, F.
ordonnance. See {Ordain}, and cf. {Ordnance}, {Ordonnance}.]
1. Orderly arrangement; preparation; provision. [Obs.]
   --Spenser.
         They had made their ordinance Of victual, and of
         other purveyance.                     --Chaucer.
2. A rule established by authority; a permanent rule of
   action; a statute, law, regulation, rescript, or accepted
   usage; an edict or decree; esp., a local law enacted by a
   municipal government; as, a municipal ordinance.
         Thou wilt die by God's just ordinance. --Shak.
         By custom and the ordinance of times. --Shak.
         Walking in all the commandments and ordinances of
         the Lord blameless.                   --Luke i. 6.
Note: Acts of Parliament are sometimes called ordinances;
      also, certain colonial laws and certain acts of
      Congress under Confederation; as, the ordinance of 1787
      for the government of the territory of the United
      States northwest of the Ohio River; the colonial
      ordinance of 1641, or 1647. This word is often used in
      Scripture in the sense of a law or statute of sovereign
      power. --Ex. xv. 25. --Num. x. 8. --Ezra iii. 10. Its
      most frequent application now in the United States is
      to laws and regulations of municipal corporations.
      --Wharton (Law Dict.).
3. (Eccl.) An established rite or ceremony.
4. Rank; order; station. [Obs.] --Shak.
5. [See {Ordnance}.] Ordnance; cannon. [Obs.] --Shak.