REGULAR  , orderly, following or arranged according to a

rule (Lat. regula, whence O.Fr. reule, whence English " rule "), steady, uniform, formally correct . The earliest and only use in English until the 16th century was in the Med . Lat. sense of regularis, one bound by and subject to the rule (regula) of a monastic or religious order, a member of the " regular " as opposed to the " secular " clergy, and so, as a substantive, a regular, i.e. a monk or friar . Another specific application is to that portion of the armed forces of a nation which are organized on a permanent system, the standing army, as opposed to " irregulars," levies raised on a voluntary basis and disbanded when the particular campaign or war for which they were raised is at an end . In the British army, the forces were divided into regulars, militia and volunteers, until 1906, when they were divided into regular and territorial forces .