They have but few laws. For to a people so instruct and
institute, very few to suffice. --Robynson
(More's
Utopia).
2. To originate and establish; to found; to organize; as, to
institute a court, or a society.
Whenever any from of government becomes destructive
of these ends it is the right of the people to alter
or to abolish it, and to institute a new government.
--Jefferson
(Decl. of
Indep. ).
3. To nominate; to appoint. [Obs.]
We institute your Grace To be our regent in these
parts of France. --Shak.
4. To begin; to commence; to set on foot; as, to institute an
inquiry; to institute a suit.
And haply institute A course of learning and
ingenious studies. --Shak.
5. To ground or establish in principles and rudiments; to
educate; to instruct. [Obs.]
If children were early instituted, knowledge would
insensibly insinuate itself. --Dr. H. More.
6. (Eccl. Law) To invest with the spiritual charge of a
benefice, or the care of souls. --Blackstone.
Syn: To originate; begin; commence; establish; found; erect;
organize; appoint; ordain.
2. That which is instituted, established, or fixed, as a law,
habit, or custom. --Glover.
3. Hence: An elementary and necessary principle; a precept,
maxim, or rule, recognized as established and
authoritative; usually in the plural, a collection of such
principles and precepts; esp., a comprehensive summary of
legal principles and decisions; as, the Institutes of
Justinian; Coke's Institutes of the Laws of England. Cf.
{Digest}, n.
They made a sort of institute and digest of anarchy.
--Burke.
To make the Stoics' institutes thy own. --Dryden.
4. An institution; a society established for the promotion of
learning, art, science, etc.; a college; as, the Institute
of Technology; also, a building owned or occupied by such
an institute; as, the Cooper Institute.
5. (Scots Law) The person to whom an estate is first given by
destination or limitation. --Tomlins.
{Institutes of medicine}, theoretical medicine; that
department of medical science which attempts to account
philosophically for the various phenomena of health as
well as of disease; physiology applied to the practice of
medicine. --Dunglison.