Ordinary
WordNet
adjective
(1) Lacking special distinction, rank, or status; commonly encountered
"Average people"
"The ordinary (or common) man in the street"
(2) Not exceptional in any way especially in quality or ability or size or degree
"Ordinary everyday objects"
"Ordinary decency"
"An ordinary day"
"An ordinary wine"
noun
(3) (heraldry) any of several conventional figures used on shields
(4) An early bicycle with a very large front wheel and small back wheel
(5) A judge of a probate court
(6) A clergyman appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for death
(7) The expected or commonplace condition or situation
"Not out of the ordinary"
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From , etc., from , from .
Adjective
- Having regular jurisdiction (of a judge; now only used in certain phrases).
- Being part of the natural order of things; normal, customary, routine.
- Having no special characteristics or function; everyday, common, mundane (often deprecatory).
- bad or undesirable.
Noun
- A devotional manual.
- A rule, or book of rules, prescribing the order of service, especially of Mass.
- A person having immediate jurisdiction in a given case of ecclesiastical law, such as the bishop within a diocese.
- A set portion of food, later as available for a fixed price at an inn or other eating establishment.
- A place where such meals are served; a public tavern, inn.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 1:
- it hath been usual with the honest and well-meaning host to provide a bill of fare which all persons may peruse at their first entrance into the house; and having thence acquainted themselves with the entertainment which they may expect, may either stay and regale with what is provided for them, or may depart to some other ordinary better accommodated to their taste.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 1:
- One of the standard geometric designs placed across the center of a coat of arms, such as a pale or fess.
- An ordinary thing or person.
- A penny-farthing bicycle.