\Or"di*na*ry\, 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.
2. Common; customary; usual. --Shak.
         Method is not less reguisite in ordinary
         conversation that in writing.         --Addison.
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.
         An ordinary lad would have acquired little or no
         useful knowledge in such a way.       --Macaulay.
{Ordinary seaman} (Naut.), one not expert or fully skilled,
   and hence ranking below an able seaman.
Syn: Normal; common; usual; customary.
Usage: 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.

\Or"di*na*ry\, n.; pl. {Ordinaries} (-r[i^]z).
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.
2. The mass; the common run. [Obs.]
         I see no more in you than in the ordinary Of
         nature's salework.                    --Shak.
3. That which is so common, or continued, as to be considered
   a settled establishment or institution. [R.]
         Spain had no other wars save those which were grown
         into an ordinary.                     --Bacon.
4. Anything which is in ordinary or common use.
         Water buckets, wagons, cart wheels, plow socks, and
         other ordinaries.                     --Sir W.
                                               Scott.
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'h[^o]te; hence, also, the meal furnished at such a
   dining room. --Shak.
         All the odd words they have picked up in a
         coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as
         flowers of style.                     --Swift.
         He exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and
         peddlers and to ordinaries.           --Bancroft.
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}.
{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}.