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.
