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The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: Section I, J, K, and L · Project Gutenberg — chapter 292 of 826 · ~400 words · public domain

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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.

In"sti*tute, n. [L. institutum: cf. F. institut. See Institute, v. t. & a.]

1. The act of instituting; institution. [Obs.] "Water sanctified by Christ's institute." Milton.

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.

In"sti*tu`ter (?), n. An institutor. [R.]

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.

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