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.
© Webster 1913.