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.