The act by which a Lodge Office-Bearer is installed to the position of authority he is to fill. In Freemasonry it is, therefore, applied to the induction of one who has been elected into his office.
The Officers of a Lodge, before they can proceed to discharge their functions, must be installed. The ceremony is an old one, and does not pertain exclusively to Freemasonry. The ancient Romans installed their priests, their kings, and their magistrates; but the ceremony was called inauguration, because performed generally by the augers.
The word installation is of comparatively modern origin, being medieval Latin, and is compounded of in and stallum, meaning a seat.