Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COM-MENCE'MENT, n. [commens'ment.]

1. Beginning; rise; origin; first existence; as, the commencement of New Style, in 1752; the commencement of hostilities in 1775.
2. The time when students in colleges commence bachelors; a day in which degrees are publicly conferred on students who have finished a collegiate education. In Cambridge, England, the day when masters of art and doctors complete their degrees. – Worthington.