Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Ordinary \Or"di*na*ry\, a. [L. ordinarius, fr. ordo, ordinis,
   order: cf. F. ordinaire. See {Order}.]
   1. According to established order; methodical; settled;
      regular. ``The ordinary forms of law.'' --Addison.

   2. Common; customary; usual. --Shak.

            Method is not less reguisite in ordinary
            conversation that in writing.         --Addison.

   3. Of common rank, quality, or ability; not distinguished by
      superior excellence or beauty; hence, not distinguished in
      any way; commonplace; inferior; of little merit; as, men
      of ordinary judgment; an ordinary book.

            An ordinary lad would have acquired little or no
            useful knowledge in such a way.       --Macaulay.

   {Ordinary seaman} (Naut.), one not expert or fully skilled,
      and hence ranking below an able seaman.

   Syn: Normal; common; usual; customary.

   Usage: See {Normal}. -- {Ordinary}, {Common}. A thing is
          common in which many persons share or partake; as, a
          common practice. A thing is ordinary when it is apt to
          come round in the regular common order or succession
          of events.

Ordinary \Or"di*na*ry\, n.; pl. {Ordinaries} (-r[i^]z).
   1. (Law)
      (a) (Roman Law) An officer who has original jurisdiction
          in his own right, and not by deputation.
      (b) (Eng. Law) One who has immediate jurisdiction in
          matters ecclesiastical; an ecclesiastical judge; also,
          a deputy of the bishop, or a clergyman appointed to
          perform divine service for condemned criminals and
          assist in preparing them for death.
      (c) (Am. Law) A judicial officer, having generally the
          powers of a judge of probate or a surrogate.

   2. The mass; the common run. [Obs.]

            I see no more in you than in the ordinary Of
            nature's salework.                    --Shak.

   3. That which is so common, or continued, as to be considered
      a settled establishment or institution. [R.]

            Spain had no other wars save those which were grown
            into an ordinary.                     --Bacon.

   4. Anything which is in ordinary or common use.

            Water buckets, wagons, cart wheels, plow socks, and
            other ordinaries.                     --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.

   5. A dining room or eating house where a meal is prepared for
      all comers, at a fixed price for the meal, in distinction
      from one where each dish is separately charged; a table
      d'h[^o]te; hence, also, the meal furnished at such a
      dining room. --Shak.

            All the odd words they have picked up in a
            coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as
            flowers of style.                     --Swift.

            He exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and
            peddlers and to ordinaries.           --Bancroft.

   6. (Her.) A charge or bearing of simple form, one of nine or
      ten which are in constant use. The bend, chevron, chief,
      cross, fesse, pale, and saltire are uniformly admitted as
      ordinaries. Some authorities include bar, bend sinister,
      pile, and others. See {Subordinary}.

   {In ordinary}.
      (a) In actual and constant service; statedly attending and
          serving; as, a physician or chaplain in ordinary. An
          ambassador in ordinary is one constantly resident at a
          foreign court.
      (b) (Naut.) Out of commission and laid up; -- said of a
          naval vessel.

   {Ordinary of the Mass} (R. C. Ch.), the part of the Mass
      which is the same every day; -- called also the {canon of
      the Mass}.

Source : WordNet®

ordinary
     adj 1: not exceptional in any way especially in quality or ability
            or size or degree; "ordinary everyday objects";
            "ordinary decency"; "an ordinary day"; "an ordinary
            wine" [ant: {extraordinary}]
     2: lacking special distinction, rank, or status; commonly
        encountered; "average people"; "the ordinary (or common)
        man in the street" [syn: {average}]

ordinary
     n 1: a judge of a probate court
     2: the expected or commonplace condition or situation; "not out
        of the ordinary"
     3: a clergyman appointed to prepare condemned prisoners for
        death
     4: an early bicycle with a very large front wheel and small
        back wheel [syn: {ordinary bicycle}]
     5: (heraldry) any of several conventional figures used on
        shields