Institution

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The act or process of instituting; as: (a) Establishment; foundation; enactment; as, the institution of a school. The institution of God's law is described as being established by solemn injunction. Hooker.

2. Instruction; education. [Obs.] Bentley.

3. That which instituted or established; as:

4. Established order, method, or custom; enactment; ordinance; permanent form of law or polity. The nature of our people, Our city's institutions. Shak.

5. An established or organized society or corporation; an establishment, especially of a public character, or affecting a community; a foundation; as, a literary institution; a charitable institution; also, a building or the buildings occupied or used by such organization; as, the Smithsonian Institution.

6. Anything forming a characteristic and persistent feature in social or national life or habits. We ordered a lunch (the most delightful of English institutions, next to dinner) to be ready against our return. Hawthorne.

7. That which institutes or instructs; a textbook; a system of elements or rules; an institute. [Obs.] There is another manuscript, of above three hundred years old, . . . being an institution of physic. Evelyn.