Hypertext Webster Gateway: "institution"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

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.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

institution
n 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";
"he had become an institution in the theater"
4: starting something for the first time [syn: {initiation}, {founding},
{foundation}, {origination}, {creation}, {instauration}]
5: a hospital for mentally incompetent or unbalanced person
[syn: {mental hospital}, {psychiatric hospital}, {mental
institution}, {mental home}, {insane asylum}, {asylum}]


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