Institute

n.
  1. The act of instituting; institution.
  2. That which is instituted, established, or fixed, as a law, habit, or custom.
  3. 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; esp., a comprehensive summary of legal principles and decisions; as, the Institutes of Justinian; Coke's Institutes of the Laws of England. Cf. Digest, n.
  4. An institution; a society established for the promotion of learning, art, science, etc.; a college; as, the Institute of Technology; The Massachusetts Institute of Technology; also, a building owned or occupied by such an institute; as, the Cooper Institute.
  5. (Scots Law) The person to whom an estate is first given by destination or limitation.
    6. Institutes of medicine ,
    theoretical medicine; that department of medical science which attempts to account philosophically for the various phenomena of health as well as of disease; physiology applied to the practice of medicine.