# ordinary

Pronunciation: US say "OR-di-nair-ee" /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/; UK/AUS say "OR-di-nuh-ree" /ˈɔːdɪnəɹi/

## Adjective

1. Having no special features or purpose; common and everyday, and sometimes used to put something down.
   - Simple: Normal and common, with nothing special about it.
   - _The house looked ordinary from the street, much like every other on the block._
   - _He dismissed the painting as ordinary and uninspired._
2. Belonging to the regular course of things; normal, customary, or routine.
   - Simple: Happening in the usual, normal way.
   - _Under ordinary circumstances, the building closes at six._
   - _Filing the monthly report is part of the ordinary running of the department._
7. Bad, poor, or below an acceptable standard. *(colloquial, Australia, New Zealand)*
   - Simple: Bad, or not good enough.
   - _The service at the restaurant was decidedly ordinary, and we left disappointed._
   - _After such a poor showing, the team's defense looked downright ordinary._
12. Having jurisdiction by virtue of one's office rather than by special appointment; now surviving only in certain fixed legal phrases.
   - Simple: Having legal power that belongs to an official position by itself.
   - _In canon law, the bishop ordinary exercises authority over his diocese without further appointment._
   - _The court recognized the ordinary jurisdiction attached to the office itself._

## Noun

3. A person or thing that is commonplace, having nothing remarkable about it.
   - Simple: A normal, common person or thing that is not special in any way.
   - _The poet found wonder in the ordinary, in kettles and rain and quiet streets._
   - _She never wanted to be an ordinary; she craved distinction above all._
4. The portion of the Christian liturgy that remains fixed regardless of the date on which the service is celebrated.
   - Simple: The part of a church service that stays the same no matter what day it is held.
   - _The composer set the entire ordinary to music for the cathedral choir._
   - _Worshippers know the ordinary by heart because it recurs in every service._
5. A church official, such as a bishop, who holds immediate jurisdiction in a matter of ecclesiastical law.
   - Simple: A church official, like a bishop, who has direct power over a case in church law.
   - _The priest appealed directly to the ordinary of the diocese._
   - _As the local ordinary, the bishop authorized the marriage dispensation._
6. A judge with authority to hear and decide cases personally rather than through delegation.
   - Simple: A judge who can decide cases personally instead of passing them to someone else.
   - _The ordinary settled the inheritance claim from the bench that afternoon._
   - _Litigants preferred the ordinary, whose decisions carried direct authority._
8. One of the standard geometric figures, such as a pale or fess, placed across the center of a coat of arms.
   - Simple: A simple shape, like a band or a cross, used across a coat of arms.
   - _The herald described the chief as the principal ordinary on the family's arms._
   - _A fess is an ordinary that crosses the shield horizontally through its middle._
9. A high-wheeled bicycle of the late nineteenth century, with a large front wheel and a much smaller rear one.
   - Simple: An old bicycle with one very large front wheel and a small back wheel.
   - _The gentleman wheeled his ordinary along the promenade, towering over the pedestrians._
   - _A spill from an ordinary could pitch the rider straight over the handlebars._
10. A rule, or a book of rules, prescribing the order in which a liturgy (especially the Mass) is to be carried out.
   - Simple: A book of rules that sets out the order of a church service, especially the Mass.
   - _The young deacon studied the ordinary to learn the sequence of the rite._
   - _Each parish kept an ordinary on the altar for reference during Mass._
11. The usual course of things; the normal state of affairs or one's regular way of acting. *(dialectal, Ireland, Scotland)*
   - Simple: The normal way things usually happen or are done.
   - _By midweek the upheaval had faded and the ordinary settled back over the office._
   - _Travelers often book such trips craving a break from the ordinary._
13. A fixed-price meal offered at a tavern or eating house, usually served at a set hour.
   - Simple: A meal served at a fixed price in an inn or eating house.
   - _Each midday the merchants gathered for an ordinary at the same tavern._
   - _The landlord served a generous ordinary for sixpence._
14. Alternative letter-case form of Ordinary.
   - Simple: Another way of writing Ordinary, the unchanging parts of the Mass. Written with a small first letter.
   - _The composer set the entire ordinary to new music for the cathedral choir._
   - _Unlike the proper, the ordinary remains constant throughout the liturgical year._
19. The chaplain of London's Newgate prison, whose duty was to prepare condemned prisoners for their execution.
   - Simple: The priest at Newgate prison who helped prisoners get ready to die.
   - _The ordinary sat with the condemned through their final hours, urging them to repent._
   - _After the hanging, the ordinary recorded the prisoner's last words._

## Noun

15. An eating house, tavern, or inn where meals were served at a fixed price. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A tavern or inn where meals were sold at a set price.
   - _Sailors gathered at the waterfront ordinary to eat and trade news._
   - _He kept a respectable ordinary near the market square for many years._
16. One's customary daily allowance of food, or by extension a regular portion or allowance of anything. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A person's usual daily amount of food or other supplies.
   - _The monastery granted every brother a modest ordinary of bread, ale, and pottage._
   - _Sailors grumbled when storms reduced their daily ordinary at sea._
17. A manual of devotion, or a handbook laying down rules for correct behavior. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A book of prayers or rules telling people how to behave properly.
18. A courier responsible for carrying mail or post between places. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A messenger who carried letters and mail from place to place.
   - _Merchants entrusted their correspondence to the ordinary who rode the northern road._
   - _The ordinary delivered the king's dispatches before nightfall._

## Origin

This word comes through Anglo-Norman ordenarie and Middle French ordinaire from Medieval Latin ordinarius, a noun use of Latin ōrdinārius ('regular, orderly'), which derives from ōrdō ('order').

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ordinary (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).