INSTALLATION

installation, the action of installing or formally placing some one in occupation of an office or place. the med. lat. _installare_ meant literally "to place in a seat or stall" (_stallum_), and the word, as now, was particularly used of the ceremonial induction of an ecclesiastic, such as a canon or prebendary, to his stall in his cathedral choir. similarly knights of an order of chivalry are ceremonially led to their stalls in the chapel of their order. the term is transferred to any formal establishment in office or position. from a french use of _installer_ and _installation_, the word is frequently applied in a transferred sense to the fixing in position and making ready for use of a mechanical, particularly electrical, apparatus or plant. instalment (for earlier _stallment_ or _estallment_, from fr. _estaler_, to fix, arrange; the change is probably due to the influence of the verb "install"), the payment of a sum of money at stated intervals and in fixed portions instead of in a lump sum; hence the sums of money as they fall due at the periods agreed upon. for the system of purchase by deferred payments or instalments see hire-purchase agreement.