in·sti·tu·tion /ˌɪn(t)stəˈtuʃən, ˈtju-/
 U建立,設立;C公共機構


 In·sti·tu·tion 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.
 (b) Instruction; education. [Obs.] --Bentley. (c) Eccl. Law The act or ceremony of investing a clergyman with the spiritual part of a benefice, by which the care of souls is committed to his charge.
 2. That which instituted or established; as: (a) Established order, method, or custom; enactment; ordinance; permanent form of law or polity.
 The nature of our people,
 Our city's institutions.   --Shak.
 (b) 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. (c) 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.
 3. 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.

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 institution
      n 1: an organization founded and united for a specific purpose
           [syn: establishment]
      2: an establishment consisting of a building or complex of
         buildings where an organization for the promotion of some
         cause is situated
      3: a custom that for a long time has been an important feature
         of some group or society; "the institution of marriage";
         "the institution of slavery"; "he had become an
         institution in the theater"
      4: the act of starting something for the first time;
         introducing something new; "she looked forward to her
         initiation as an adult"; "the foundation of a new
         scientific society"; "he regards the fork as a modern
         introduction" [syn: initiation, founding, foundation,
          origination, creation, innovation, introduction,
         instauration]
      5: a hospital for mentally incompetent or unbalanced person
         [syn: mental hospital, psychiatric hospital, {mental
         institution, mental home, insane asylum, asylum]