ordination

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act of ordaining or the state of being ordained.
2. n. Ecclesiastical The ceremony of consecration to the ministry.
3. n. An arrangement or ordering.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Disposition as in ranks or rows; formal arrangement; array.
2. n. The act of admitting to holy orders, or to the Christian ministry; the rite of conferring holy orders or investing with ministerial or sacerdotal power and authority. In episcopal churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek and other Oriental churches, and the Anglican Church, ordination consists in imposition of hands by a bishop upon the candidate, thus admitting him to one of the holy orders, and conferring on him the powers of that order and authority to perform its functions. The act of elevation to the episcopate is in strict technical use called consecration, not ordination. Ordination in its wider sense includes admission to the minor orders, which are usually conferred in the Roman Catholic Church by a bishop, but can be bestowed by an abbot, the act of admission consisting in the tradition (delivery) of the instruments. In Presbyterian churches the power of ordination rests with the presbytery, who appoint one or more of their number to conduct the ordination ceremonies, which include laying on of hands. In Congregational and Baptist churches ordination is customarily performed by the pastors of other churches (of the same denomination), but is regarded as necessary only for the preservation of church order; and the service is regarded as conferring no special religious authority. See institution, induction, installation.
3. n. Arrangement of parts so as to form a consistent whole; organization; prearrangement; constitution.
4. n. Assignment of proper place in an order or series; hence, suitable relation; due proportion.
5. n. Appointment; enactment; decree; ordinance.

Wiktionary

1. n. The act of ordaining or the state of being ordained.
2. n. The ceremony in which a priest is consecrated.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of ordaining, appointing, or setting apart; the state of being ordained, appointed, etc.
2. n. (Eccl.) The act of setting apart to an office in the Christian ministry; the conferring of holy orders.
3. n. rare Disposition; arrangement; order.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the status of being ordained to a sacred office
2. n. logical or comprehensible arrangement of separate elements
3. n. the act of ordaining; the act of conferring (or receiving) holy orders