ORDINARIEST
Adjective
ordinariest
superlative form of ordinary: most ordinary
Source: Wiktionary
ORDINARY
Or"di*na*ry, a. Etym: [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. 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 (.
1. (Law)
(a) (Roman Law) An officer who has original jurisdiction in his own
right, and not by deputation. (b) (Eng. Law)
Definition: 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'hΓ΄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.)
Definition: 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition