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.
© Webster 1913. | 
