Word.ws English Dictionary

ord

/ˈɔːd/US/ˈɔːɹd/

ord is the abbreviation of order.

ord is the abbreviation of ordinance.

ord is the clipping of ordinary share.

Noun (1)

ord (plural ords)

  1. (UK, dialectal) A point.
  2. (UK, dialectal) A point of origin; a beginning.
    • "[...] But such is life — hard upon hard from ord to end; and if I had not been made of the best of neat-leather, the longer in water the tougher, I would have melted away with my tears long ago!"1897, Frank Cowan, The millionaire
    • [...] Tell me wholly as it was From ord to end how it did pass When first your father was of me ware.1924, Adriaan Jacob Barnouw Esmoreit, An ingenious play of Esmoreit: the king's son of Sicily
  3. (UK, dialectal) A point of land; a promontory.
    • When a man came from Sutherland into Caithness over the Ord [of Caithness, in the southern tip of the county], he was called an ord-louper .1900, Cai.
  4. (UK, dialectal) The point or edge of a weapon.
    • Saul drew his sword, And ran even upon the ord. — Cursor Mundi.
    • And touched him with the spear's ord. — Romance of Sir Otuel.

Meaning of order

Noun

order (countable and uncountable, plural orders)

  1. (countable) Arrangement, disposition, or sequence.
    • put the children in age order
  2. (countable) A position in an arrangement, disposition, or sequence.
    • In these situations we find the Genesee slate, the Tully limestone and the upper part of the Hamilton group, each one in its order disappearing beneath the lake level as we proceed southward.1843, New York (State). Natural History Survey, Geology of New-York: Comprising the survey of the fourth geological ...
  3. (uncountable) The state of being well arranged.
    • The house is in order; the machinery is out of order.
  4. (countable) Conformity with law or decorum; freedom from disturbance; general tranquillity; public quiet.
    • to preserve order in a community or an assembly
  5. (countable) A command.
    • give an order
  6. (countable) A request for some product or service; a commission to purchase, sell, or supply goods.
    • make an order

See all 33 meanings of order

Meaning of ordinance

Noun

ordinance (countable and uncountable, plural ordinances)

  1. (US) A local law, passed by e.g. a city.
    • Enactive. Expositive. / Art. 57. XIII 2. The Registrative, or say Recordative: exercised, by the arrangements and operations, by which, in conformity to corresponding ordinances and mandates, the accounts, given at different periods by the exercise of the statistic function, are kept in contiguity...1830, Jeremy Bentham, Constitutional code: for the use all nations and all governments ..., volume 1, page 251
    Synonyms:
    bylaw
  2. (England) Prior to the Third English Civil War, a decree of Parliament.
  3. (Commonwealth, UK, pre-1992 universities) Detailed legislation that translates the broad principles of the university's charter and statutes into practical effect.
  4. (Hong-Kong) A law enacted by the Hong Kong Legislative Council.
  5. (India, Pakistan) A temporary legislation promulgated by the president on the recommendation of the cabinet.
  6. A religious practice or ritual prescribed by a church.

Proper noun capitalized: Ord

Ord

  1. A surname.
  2. A city, the county seat of Valley County, Nebraska, United States.
  3. Two townships in Nebraska, in Antelope County and Valley County.
  4. A civil parish in north Northumberland, England, that includes the settlements of East Ord, Middle Ord, Ord Mains, South Ord and West Ord.
  5. A hamlet near Tarskavaig, Isle of Skye, Highland council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NG6113). From Scottish Gaelic An t-Òrd.
  6. A settlement next to Invergordon, Highland council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NH7170).
  7. (Ord River) A river in Western Australia.

Noun (2) capitalized: ORD

ORD (plural ORDs)

  1. (Singapore, abbreviation) Abbreviation of operationally ready date, the date when a national serviceman finishes his service.

Forms of ord

pluralords
alternative formorde
pluralORDs

Origin of ord

From Middle English ord (“point, point of a weapon, beginning”), from Old English ord (“point, spear-point, spear, source, beginning, front, vanguard”), from Proto-West Germanic *oʀd, from Proto-Germanic *uzdaz (“point”), of obscure origin (see *uzdaz). Cognate with North Frisian od (“tip, place, beginning”), Dutch oord (“place, region”), German Ort (“location, place, position”), Danish od (“a point”), Swedish udd (“a point, prick”), Icelandic oddur (“tip, point of a weapon, leader”). See also odd.

* As an English surname, from the dialectal noun ord (“point, place”). Compare Ort. * As a Scottish Gaelic surname, habitational name from Ord in Peeblesshire or Banffshire, from òrd (“hammer”). * The city in Nebraska is named after Edward O. C. Ord. * The river in Australia is named after Harry Ord.

Words formed from ord

Words that rhyme with ord

40 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about ord

What does ord mean?
Ord means a point.
What is ord the abbreviation of?
Ord is the abbreviation of order.
What part of speech is ord?
Ord can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce ord?
Ord is pronounced /ˈɔːd/ (UK).
What is the plural of ord?
The plural of ord is ords.

Words near ord in the dictionary

  1. orcs
  2. orculid
  3. orculids
  4. Orcus
  5. Orcutt
  6. ord
  7. Ord of Caithness
  8. orda
  9. ordain
  10. ordainable
  11. ordained

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ord (page history and authors); Ord (page history and authors); ORD (page history and authors); order (page history and authors); ordinance (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ord.wav.

Cite this entry: “ord.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ord. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.