INSTITUTION

Definitions

1. 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.
2. 2. Instruction; education. [Obs.] Bentley.
3. 3. That which instituted or established; as:
4. 4. Established order, method, or custom; enactment; ordinance; permanent form of law or polity. The nature of our people, Our city's institutions. Shak.
5. 5. 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.
6. 6. 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.
7. 7. 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.