|
Institution - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
|
Institution : (noun)
1: an organization founded and united for a specific purpose
[syn: establishment]
2: an establishment consisting of a building or complex of
buildings where an organization for the promotion of some
cause is situated
3: a custom that for a long time has been an important feature
of some group or society; "the institution of marriage";
"the institution of slavery"; "he had become an
institution in the theater"
4: the act of starting something for the first time;
introducing something new; "she looked forward to her
initiation as an adult"; "the foundation of a new
scientific society"; "he regards the fork as a modern
introduction" [syn: initiation, founding, foundation,
origination, creation, innovation, introduction,
instauration]
5: a hospital for mentally incompetent or unbalanced person
[syn: mental hospital, psychiatric hospital, mental
institution, mental home, insane asylum, asylum]
Based on WordNet 2.0
|
|
Institution : \In`sti*tu"tion\, n. [L. institutio: cf. F.
institution.]
1. The act or process of instituting; as:
(a) Establishment; foundation; enactment; as, the
institution of a school.
The institution of God's law is described as
being established by solemn injunction.
--Hooker.
(b) Instruction; education. [Obs.] --Bentley.
(c) (Eccl. Law) The act or ceremony of investing a
clergyman with the spiritual part of a benefice, by
which the care of souls is committed to his charge.
--Blackstone.
2. That which instituted or established; as:
(a) Established order, method, or custom; enactment;
ordinance; permanent form of law or polity.
The nature of our people, Our city's
institutions. --Shak.
(b) An established or organized society or corporation; an
establishment, especially of a public character, or
affecting a community; a foundation; as, a literary
institution; a charitable institution; also, a
building or the buildings occupied or used by such
organization; as, the Smithsonian Institution.
(c) Anything forming a characteristic and persistent
feature in social or national life or habits.
We ordered a lunch (the most delightful of
English institutions, next to dinner) to be
ready against our return. --Hawthorne.
3. That which institutes or instructs; a textbook; a system
of elements or rules; an institute. [Obs.]
There is another manuscript, of above three hundred
years old, . . . being an institution of physic.
--Evelyn.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
|
|
INSTITUTION, eccl. law. The act by which the ordinary commits the cure of
souls to a person presented to a benefice.
Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
|
|
INSTITUTION, political law. That which has been established and settled by
law for the public good; as, the American institutions guaranty to the
citizens all privileges and immunities essential to freedom.
Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
|
|
INSTITUTION, practice. The commencement of an action; as, A B has instituted
a suit against C D, to recover damages for a trespass.
Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
|
|
|
|
|
