Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Ordinance \Or"di*nance\, n. [OE. ordenance, OF. ordenance, F.
   ordonnance. See {Ordain}, and cf. {Ordnance}, {Ordonnance}.]
   1. Orderly arrangement; preparation; provision. [Obs.]
      --Spenser.

            They had made their ordinance Of victual, and of
            other purveyance.                     --Chaucer.

   2. A rule established by authority; a permanent rule of
      action; a statute, law, regulation, rescript, or accepted
      usage; an edict or decree; esp., a local law enacted by a
      municipal government; as, a municipal ordinance.

            Thou wilt die by God's just ordinance. --Shak.

            By custom and the ordinance of times. --Shak.

            Walking in all the commandments and ordinances of
            the Lord blameless.                   --Luke i. 6.

   Note: Acts of Parliament are sometimes called ordinances;
         also, certain colonial laws and certain acts of
         Congress under Confederation; as, the ordinance of 1787
         for the government of the territory of the United
         States northwest of the Ohio River; the colonial
         ordinance of 1641, or 1647. This word is often used in
         Scripture in the sense of a law or statute of sovereign
         power. --Ex. xv. 25. --Num. x. 8. --Ezra iii. 10. Its
         most frequent application now in the United States is
         to laws and regulations of municipal corporations.
         --Wharton (Law Dict.).

   3. (Eccl.) An established rite or ceremony.

   4. Rank; order; station. [Obs.] --Shak.

   5. [See {Ordnance}.] Ordnance; cannon. [Obs.] --Shak.

Source : WordNet®

ordinance
     n 1: an authoritative rule [syn: {regulation}]
     2: a statute enacted by a city government
     3: the act of ordaining; the act of conferring (or receiving)
        holy orders; "the rabbi's family was present for his
        ordination" [syn: {ordination}]