-orysuff.1. Of, relating to, or characterized by: advisory.2. A place or thing used for or connected with: crematory.[Middle English -orie, from Old North French and Anglo-Norman, from Latin -?rius, adj. suff., and -?rium, n. suff.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.-ory suffix forming nouns 1. indicating a place for: observatory. 2. something having a specified use: directory. [via Old French -orie, from Latin -?rium, -?ria]-ory suffix forming adjectives of or relating to; characterized by; having the effect of: contributory; promissory. [via Old French -orie, from Latin -?rius]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014-ory1, an adjective-forming suffix, joined to bases of Latin origin in imitation of borrowed Latin words containing the suffix -tory1 (and its alternant -sory): excretory; sensory; statutory.[Middle English -orie