Orders are the instructions a soldier or an employee must carry out. Under orders, follow orders, disobey orders.
The plural has a life of its own in military contexts: get your orders, awaiting orders, orders are orders. That last is a fixed and slightly grim phrase meaning the speaker is not going to argue. Note the defence of following orders, which was rejected at Nuremberg and is now shorthand for a bad excuse. In religion, holy orders means ordination to the priesthood, and to take orders means to be ordained — a completely different sense sharing the word.
1nounordersInstructions that must be obeyed.
“The orders came through at four in the morning.”
synonyms: instructions, commands
2nounordinationOrdination to the priesthood.
“He took holy orders at thirty-one.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
orders is instructions to be obeyed.