A collection, body, or society of persons engaged in common pursuits, or having common duties and interests, and sometimes, by charter, peculiar rights and privileges; as, a college of heralds; a college of electors; a college of bishops.
A society of scholars or friends of learning, incorporated for study or instruction, esp. in the higher branches of knowledge; as, the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and many American colleges.
A building, or number of buildings, used by a college.
Fig.: A community.
Established; organized; founded.
To set up; to establish; to ordain; as, to institute laws, rules, etc.
To originate and establish; to found; to organize; as, to institute a court, or a society.
To nominate; to appoint.
To begin; to commence; to set on foot; as, to institute an inquiry; to institute a suit.
To ground or establish in principles and rudiments; to educate; to instruct.
To invest with the spiritual charge of a benefice, or the care of souls.
The act of instituting; institution.
That which is instituted, established, or fixed, as a law, habit, or custom.
Hence: An elementary and necessary principle; a precept, maxim, or rule, recognized as established and authoritative; usually in the plural, a collection of such principles and precepts; esp., a comprehensive summary of legal principles and decisions; as, the Institutes of Justinian; Coke’s Institutes of the Laws of England. Cf. Digest, n.
An institution; a society established for the promotion of learning, art, science, etc.; a college; as, the Institute of Technology; The Massachusetts Institute of Technology; also, a building owned or occupied by such an institute; as, the Cooper Institute.
The person to whom an estate is first given by destination or limitation.
