Ordainment
(Or*dain"ment) n. Ordination. [R.] Burke.
Ordal
(Or"dal) n. Ordeal. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Ordalian
(Or*da"li*an) a. [LL. ordalium.] Of or pertaining to trial by ordeal. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.
Ordeal
(Or"de*al) n. [AS. ordal, ord&aemacrl, a judgment; akin to D. oordeel, G. urteil, urtheil; orig.,
what is dealt out, the prefix or- being akin to a- compounded with verbs, G. er-, ur- , Goth. us-,
orig. meaning, out. See Deal, v. & n., and cf. Arise, Ort.]
1. An ancient form of test to determine guilt or innocence, by appealing to a supernatural decision, —
once common in Europe, and still practiced in the East and by savage tribes.
In England ordeal by fire and ordeal by water were used, the former confined to persons of rank, the
latter to the common people. The ordeal by fire was performed, either by handling red-hot iron, or by
walking barefoot and blindfold over red-hot plowshares, laid at unequal distances. If the person escaped
unhurt, he was adjudged innocent; otherwise he was condemned as guilty. The ordeal by water was
performed, either by plunging the bare arm to the elbow in boiling water, an escape from injury being
taken as proof of innocence, or by casting the accused person, bound hand and foot, into a river or
pond, when if he floated it was an evidence of guilt, but if he sunk he was acquitted. It is probable that
the proverbial phrase, to go through fire and water, denoting severe trial or danger, is derived from the
ordeal. See Wager of battle, under Wager.
2. Any severe trial, or test; a painful experience.
Ordeal bean. (Bot.) See Calabar bean, under Calabar. — Ordeal root (Bot.) the root of a species
of Strychnos growing in West Africa, used, like the ordeal bean, in trials for witchcraft. — Ordeal tree
(Bot.), a poisonous tree of Madagascar (Tanghinia, or Cerbera, venenata). Persons suspected of crime
are forced to eat the seeds of the plumlike fruit, and criminals are put to death by being pricked with a
lance dipped in the juice of the seeds.
Ordeal
(Or"de*al), a. Of or pertaining to trial by ordeal.
Order
(Or"der) n. [OE. ordre, F. ordre, fr. L. ordo, ordinis. Cf. Ordain, Ordinal.]
1. Regular arrangement; any methodical or established succession or harmonious relation; method; system; as:
(a) Of material things, like the books in a library. (b) Of intellectual notions or ideas, like the topics of a
discource. (c) Of periods of time or occurrences, and the like.
The side chambers were . . . thirty in order.
Ezek. xli. 6.
Bright-harnessed angels sit in order serviceable.
Milton.
Good order is the foundation of all good things.
Burke. 2. Right arrangement; a normal, correct, or fit condition; as, the house is in order; the machinery is out of
order. Locke.
3. The customary mode of procedure; established system, as in the conduct of debates or the transaction
of business; usage; custom; fashion. Dantiel.
And, pregnant with his grander thought,
Brought the old order into doubt.
Emerson. 4. Conformity with law or decorum; freedom from disturbance; general tranquillity; public quiet; as, to preserve
order in a community or an assembly.
