To set or place in proper order; arrange; prepare; make ready; hence, to construct or constitute with a view to a certain end.
To set up; establish; institute; appoint: order.
To dispose or regulate according to will or purpose; prescribe; give orders or directions for; command; enact; decree: used especially of the decrees of Providence or of fate; hence, to destine.
To set apart for an office; select; appoint.
To destine, set apart, etc., to a certain spiritual condition, or to the fulfilment of a certain providential purpose: especially in Biblical usage.
Eccles., to invest with ministerial or sacerdotal functions; confer holy orders upon; appoint to or formally introduce into the ministerial office: used especially of admission to the priesthood, as distinguished from making a deacon and consecrating a bishop. See ordination, 2.
Synonyms To destine, enact, order, prescribe, enjoin. In regard to the making of human laws or the acts of Providence, ordain is the most weighty and solemn word in use: as, the Mayor and Common Council do ordain; “the powers that be are ordained of God,”