Definition of "institution"

institution

/ˌɪnstɪˈtjuːʃən/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural institutions
1. A custom or practice of a society or community.
2. A long established and respected organization, particularly one involved with education, public service, or charity work.
3. The building or buildings which house such an organization.
4. (informal, by shortening) A mental institution.
5. (informal) Any long established and respected place or business.
  Quotations
  [quoting Giles Coren] "The Wykeham Arms [a pub] is destroyed. They have turned a great old English institution into a shameful clip-joint. It's a shuddering, howling tragedy."
  2009 February 19, Gareth Lewis, “Giles Coren slams Winchester pub The Wykeham Arms”, in Southern Daily Echo‎
6. (informal) A person long established in a place, position, or field.
7. The act of instituting something.
  Quotations
  Accordingly if we can show that a barbarous custom, like that of the priesthood of Nemi, has existed elsewhere; if we can detect the motives which led to its institution; if we can prove that these motives have operated widely, perhaps universally, in human society...
  1894, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough‎
8. (Christianity) The act by which a bishop commits a cure of souls to a priest.
9. (obsolete) That which institutes or instructs, particularly a textbook or system of elements or rules.