in ordinary

English

Prepositional phrase

in ordinary

  1. In an official capacity (chiefly as a post-modifier in official titles). [from 17th c.]
    • 1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society, published 2016, page 263:
      The king experienced his first attack in autumn 1788, and as his condition worsened and the physicians-in-ordinary proved unable to cope or cure, the Reverend Dr Francis Willis (1717–1807), a clergyman doctor who ran a madhouse in Lincolnshire, was called in.
    An ambassador in ordinary is one constantly resident at a foreign court.
  2. (nautical) Out of commission and laid up; said of a naval vessel.
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