Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Institute \In"sti*tute\, n. [L. institutum: cf. F. institut. See
   {Institute}, v. t. & a.]
   1. The act of instituting; institution. [Obs.] ``Water
      sanctified by Christ's institute.'' --Milton.

   2. That which is instituted, established, or fixed, as a law,
      habit, or custom. --Glover.

   3. 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.

            They made a sort of institute and digest of anarchy.
                                                  --Burke.

            To make the Stoics' institutes thy own. --Dryden.

   4. An institution; a society established for the promotion of
      learning, art, science, etc.; a college; as, the Institute
      of Technology; also, a building owned or occupied by such
      an institute; as, the Cooper Institute.

   5. (Scots Law) The person to whom an estate is first given by
      destination or limitation. --Tomlins.

   {Institutes of medicine}, theoretical medicine; that
      department of medical science which attempts to account
      philosophically for the various phenomena of health as
      well as of disease; physiology applied to the practice of
      medicine. --Dunglison.