order (noun)
1: (often plural) a command given by a superior (e.g., a military or law enforcement officer) that must be obeyed; "the British ships dropped anchor and waited for orders from London"
2: a degree in a continuum of size or quantity; "it was on the order of a mile"; "an explosion of a low order of magnitude" [syn: order of magnitude]
3: established customary state (especially of society); "order ruled in the streets"; "law and order" [ant: disorder]
4: logical or comprehensible arrangement of separate elements; "we shall consider these questions in the inverse order of their presentation" [syn: ordering, ordination]
5: a condition of regular or proper arrangement; "he put his desk in order"; "the machine is now in working order" [syn: orderliness] [ant: disorderliness, disorderliness]
6: a legally binding command or decision entered on the court record (as if issued by a court or judge); "a friend in New Mexico said that the order caused no trouble out there" [syn: decree, edict, fiat, rescript]
7: a commercial document used to request someone to supply something in return for payment and providing specifications and quantities; "IBM received an order for a hundred computers" [syn: purchase order]
8: a formal association of people with similar interests; "he joined a golf club"; "they formed a small lunch society"; "men from the fraternal order will staff the soup kitchen today" [syn: club, society, guild, gild, lodge]
9: a body of rules followed by an assembly [syn: [[rules of order]], parliamentary law, parliamentary procedure]
10: (usually plural) the status or rank or office of a Christian clergyman in an ecclesiastical hierarchy; "theologians still disagree over whether `bishop' should or should not be a separate order" [syn: holy order]
11: a group of person living under a religious rule; "the order of Saint Benedict" [syn: monastic order]
12: (biology) taxonomic group containing one or more families
13: a request for food or refreshment (as served in a restaurant or bar etc.); "I gave the waiter my order"
14: (architecture) one of original three styles of Greek architecture distinguished by the type of column and entablature used or a style developed from the original three by the Romans
15: putting in order; "there were mistakes in the ordering of items on the list" [syn: ordering]
order
(verb)
1: give instructions to or direct somebody to do something with authority; "I said to him to go home"; "She ordered him to do the shopping"; "The mother told the child to get dressed" [syn: tell, enjoin, say]
2: make a request for something; "Order me some flowers"; "order a work stoppage"
3: issue commands or orders for [syn: prescribe, dictate]
4: bring into conformity with rules or principles or usage; impose regulations; "We cannot regulate the way people dress"; "This town likes to regulate" [syn: regulate, regularize, regularise, govern] [ant: deregulate]
5: bring order to or into; "Order these files" [ant: disorder]
6: place in a certain order; "order these files"
7: appoint to a clerical posts; "he was ordained in the Church" [syn: ordain, consecrate, ordinate]
8: arrange thoughts, ideas, temporal events, etc.; "arrange my schedule"; "set up one's life"; "I put these memories with those of bygone times" [syn: arrange, set up, put]
9: assign a rank or rating to; "how would you rank these students?"; "The restaurant is rated highly in the food guide" [syn: rate, rank, range, grade, place]