institute > define

Set up or lay the groundwork for.
- usage: "establish a new department"
- synonyms: establish, found, plant, constitute
Advance or set forth in court.
- usage: "bring charges, "institute proceedings"
- synonyms: bring

(n.) The person to whom an estate is first given by destination or limitation.
(v.t.) To ground or establish in principles and rudiments; to educate; to instruct.
(a.) That which is instituted, established or fixed, as a law, habit or custom.
(n.) An institution; a society established for the promotion of learning, art, science, etc.; a college; as, the Institute of Technology; also, a building owned or occupied by such an institute; as, the Cooper Institute.
(a.) The act of instituting; institution.
(v.t.) To set up; to establish; to ordain; as, to institute laws, rules, etc.
(a.) 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; especially, a comprehensive summary of legal principles and decisions; as, the Institutes of Justinian; Coke's Institutes of the Laws of England. Cf. Digest, n.
(v.t.) To originate and establish; to found; to organize; as, to institute a court or a society.
(p.a.) Established; organized; founded.
(v.t.) To invest with the spiritual charge of a benefice or the care of souls.
(v.t.) To nominate; to appoint.
(v.t.) To begin; to commence; to set on foot; as, to institute an inquiry; to institute a suit.

by Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary