Institute /(ĭn"stĭ*tūt)/

In·sti·tute

Institute

p. a.
  1. Established; organized; founded. [Obs.]
    They have but few laws. For to a people so instruct and institute, very few to suffice.
    — Robynson (More's Utopia).

Institute

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Instituted; p. pr. & vb. n. Instituting

  1. To set up; to establish; to ordain; as, to institute laws, rules, etc.
  2. To originate and establish; to found; to organize; as, to institute a court, or a society.
    Whenever any from of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government.
    — Jefferson (Decl. of Indep. ).
  3. To nominate; to appoint. [Obs.]
    We institute your Grace To be our regent in these parts of France.
  4. To begin; to commence; to set on foot; as, to institute an inquiry; to institute a suit.
    And haply institute A course of learning and ingenious studies.
  5. To ground or establish in principles and rudiments; to educate; to instruct. [Obs.]
    If children were early instituted, knowledge would insensibly insinuate itself.
  6. To invest with the spiritual charge of a benefice, or the care of souls. (Eccl. Law)

Institute

n.
  1. The act of instituting; institution. [Obs.]
  2. That which is instituted, established, or fixed, as a law, habit, or custom.
  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.
    To make the Stoics' institutes thy own.
  4. An institution; a society established for the promotion of learning, art, science, etc.; a college; as, the Institute of Technology; The Massachusetts Institute of Technology; also, a building owned or occupied by such an institute; as, the Cooper Institute.
  5. The person to whom an estate is first given by destination or limitation. (Scots Law)

Phrases & Compounds

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.