(often plural) a command given by a superior (e.g., a military or law enforcement officer) that must be obeyed
"the British ships dropped anchor and waited for orders from London"
a degree in a continuum of size or quantity
"it was on the order of a mile"
"an explosion of a low order of magnitude"
established customary state (especially of society)
"order ruled in the streets"
"law and order"
logical or comprehensible arrangement of separate elements
"we shall consider these questions in the inverse order of their presentation"
a condition of regular or proper arrangement
"he put his desk in order"
"the machine is now in working order"
a commercial document used to request someone to supply something in return for payment and providing specifications and quantities
"IBM received an order for a hundred computers"
a body of rules followed by an assembly
"The committee voted to suspend the order and call for a new debate on the proposed budget changes."
(usually plural) the status or rank or office of a Christian clergyman in an ecclesiastical hierarchy
"theologians still disagree over whether `bishop' should or should not be a separate Order"
(biology) taxonomic group containing one or more families
"The biologist spent hours organizing the specimens into their proper orders, separating the bears from the seals based on shared evolutionary traits."
a request for something to be made, supplied, or served
"I gave the waiter my order"
"the company's products were in such demand that they got more orders than their call center could handle"
(architecture) one of original three styles of Greek architecture distinguished by the type of column and entablature used or a style developed from the original three by the Romans
"The guidebook explained that the temple's towering columns and heavy frieze were classic examples of the Doric order."
Arrangement, disposition, or sequence.
"The new library system organizes all books by subject rather than alphabetical order to make them easier to find."
In plain English: An order is a command telling someone to do something specific.
"She placed an order for coffee at the new café."
Usage: Use "order" to describe how items are arranged or sequenced in a specific pattern, such as putting books on a shelf by author. Do not use it when referring to a request made to a business for goods or services.
bring into conformity with rules or principles or usage; impose regulations
"We cannot regulate the way people dress"
"This town likes to regulate"
To set in some sort of order.
"She spent the afternoon organizing her messy bookshelf, finally putting all the novels and encyclopedias into their proper order."
In plain English: To order something is to tell someone else to give you that thing.
"Please order two cups of coffee for me."
Usage: Use the verb order to mean arranging items or people into a neat sequence or organized structure. Do not confuse this with issuing a command, which is its more common everyday meaning.
The Order of the Arrow.
"After years of service, he was finally invited to wear the sash and feathers as a member of the Order of the Arrow."
The word "order" comes from the Latin word ordo, which originally meant a row or regular arrangement, like threads in a loom. It entered English through Old French and Middle English, evolving to mean a request for something to be done or provided.