tradition

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The passing down of elements of a culture from generation to generation, especially by oral communication.
• noun A mode of thought or behavior followed by a people continuously from generation to generation; a custom or usage.
• noun A set of such customs and usages viewed as a coherent body of precedents influencing the present: synonym: heritage.
• noun A precept or a body of precepts that are not written in the sacred book of a religion, such as the Bible, but are considered holy or true.
• noun A style or method of an activity or practice, especially of artistic expression, that is recognized and sometimes imitated.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To transmit as a tradition.
• noun The act of handing over something in a formal legal manner; the act of delivering into the hands of another; delivery.
• noun The handing down of opinions, doctrines, practices, rites, and customs from ancestors to posterity; the transmission of any opinion or practice from forefathers to descendants or from one generation to another, by oral communication, without written memorials.
• noun A statement, opinion, or belief, or a body of statements or opinions or beliefs, that has been handed down from age to age by oral communication; knowledge or belief transmitted without the aid of written memorials.
• noun In theology, that body of doctrine and discipline supposed to have been revealed or commanded by God, but not committed to writing, and therefore not incorporated in the Scriptures.
• noun In Mohammedanism, the words and deeds of Mohammed (and to some extent of his companions), not contained in the Koran, but handed down for a time orally, and then recorded.
• noun A custom handed down from one age or generation to another and having acquired almost the force of law.
• noun In the fine arts, literature, etc., the accumulated experience, advance, or achievement of the past, as handed down by predecessors or derived immediately from them by artists, schools, or writers.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb obsolete To transmit by way of tradition; to hand down.
• noun The act of delivering into the hands of another; delivery.
• noun The unwritten or oral delivery of information, opinions, doctrines, practices, rites, and customs, from father to son, or from ancestors to posterity; the transmission of any knowledge, opinions, or practice, from forefathers to descendants by oral communication, without written memorials.
• noun Hence, that which is transmitted orally from father to son, or from ancestors to posterity; knowledge or belief transmitted without the aid of written memorials; custom or practice long observed.
• noun An unwritten code of law represented to have been given by God to Moses on Sinai.
• noun That body of doctrine and discipline, or any article thereof, supposed to have been put forth by Christ or his apostles, and not committed to writing.
• noun (Eccl.) Palm Sunday; -- so called because the creed was then taught to candidates for baptism at Easter.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A part of culture that is passed from person to person or generation to generation, possibly differing in detail from family to family, such as the way to celebrate holidays.
• noun A commonly held system.
• verb obsolete To transmit by way of tradition; to hand down.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a specific practice of long standing
• noun an inherited pattern of thought or action