Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COM'MIS-SA-RY-SHIP, n.

The office of a commissary. – Ayliffe.

COM-MIS'SION, n. [Fr. commission; It. commisione; Sp. comision; L. commissio, with a different application, from committo; con and mitto, to send.]

1. The act of committing, doing, performing, or perpetrating; as, the commission of a crime.
2. The act of committing or sending to; the act of intrusting, as a charge or duty. Hence,
3. The thing committed, intrusted or delivered; letters patent, or any writing from proper authority, given to a person as his warrant for exercising certain powers, or the performance of any duty, whether civil, ecclesiastical, or military. Hence,
4. Charge; order; mandate; authority given. He bore his great commission in his look. – Dryden.
5. By a metonymy, a number of persons joined in an office or trust.
6. The state of that which is intrusted; as, the great seal was put into commission; or the state of being authorized to act or perform service; as, a ship is put into commission.
7. In commerce, the state of acting under authority in the purchase and sale of goods for another. To trade or do business on commission, is to buy or sell for another by his authority. Hence,
8. The allowance made to a factor or commission merchant for transacting business, which is a certain rate per cent. of the value of the goods bought or sold. Commission of bankruptcy, is a commission issuing from the Chancellor in Great Britain, and in other countries, from some proper authority, appointing and empowering certain persons to examine into the facts relative to an alledged bankruptcy, and to secure the bankrupt's lands and effects for the creditors. Commission of lunacy, is a commission issuing from the court of chancery, to authorize an inquiry whether a person is a lunatic or not. Commission-officer, in the army or navy, is an officer who has a commission, in distinction from subaltern officers.

COM-MIS'SION, v.t.

1. To give a commission to; to empower or authorize by commission. The president and senate appoint, but the president commissions. – United States.
2. To send with a mandate or authority. A chosen band He first commissions to the Latian land. – Dryden.
3. To authorize or empower. Note. Commissionate, in a like sense, has been used, but rarely.

COM-MIS'SION-AL, or COM-MIS'SION-A-RY, a.

Appointed by warrant. [Little used.]

COM-MIS'SION-ED, pp.

Furnished with a commission; empowered; authorized.

COM-MIS'SION-ER, n.

A person who has a commission or warrant from proper authority, to perform some office, or execute some business, for the person or government which employs him, and gives him authority; as, commissioners for settling the bounds of a state, or for adjusting claims.

COM-MIS'SION-ING, ppr.

Giving a commission to; furnishing with a warrant; empowering by letters patent or other writing; authorizing.

COM-MIS'SION-MER-CHANT, n.

A merchant who transacts business as the agent of other men, in buying and selling, and receives a rate per cent. as his commission or reward.

COM'MIS-SURE, n. [L. commissura, from committo, commissus; literally, a sending or thrusting together.]

1. A joint, seam or closure; the place where two bodies or parts of a body meet and unite; an interstice or cleft between particles or parts, as between plates or lamellæ.
2. In architecture, the joint of two stones, or application of the surface of one to that of another. – Encyc.
3. In anatomy, a suture of the cranium or skull; articulation; the corners of the lips. Also, certain parts in the ventricles of the brain, uniting the two hemispheres. – Coxe.

COM-MIT', v.t. [L. committo, to send to, or thrust together; con and mitto, to send; Fr. mettre, to put, set or lay; commettre, to commit; It. mettere, commettere; Sp. meter, cometer; Port. meter, cometer. Literally, to send to, or upon; to throw, put or lay upon. Hence,]

1. To give in trust; to put into the hands or power of another; to intrust; with to. Commit thy way to the Lord. – Ps. xxxvii. The things thou hast heard of me, commit to faithful men. – 2 Tim. ii.
2. To put into any place for preservation; to deposit; as, to commit a passage in a book to memory; to commit the body to the grave.
3. To put or send to, for confinement; as, to commit an offender to prison. Hence for the sake of brevity, commit is used for imprison. The sherif has committed the offender. These two were committed, at least restrained of their liberty. – Clarendon.
4. To do; to effect or perpetrate; as, to commit murder, treason, felony, or trespass. Thou shalt not commit adultery. – Ex. xx.
5. To join or put together, for a contest; to match; followed by with; a Latinism. How does Philopolis commit the opponent with the respondent. [Little used.] – More.
6. To place in a state of hostility or incongruity. “Committing short and long words.” But this seems to be the same signification as the foregoing.
7. To expose or endanger by a preliminary step or decision which can not be recalled; as, to commit the peace of a country by espousing the cause of a belligerent. You might have satisfied every duty of political friendship without committing the honor of your sovereign. – Junius.
8. To engage; to pledge; or to pledge by implication. The general addressed letters to Gen. Gates and to Gen. Heath, cautioning them against any sudden assent to the proposal, which might possibly be considered as committing the faith of the United States. – Marshall. And with the reciprocal pronoun, to commit one's self, is to do some act, or make some declaration, which may bind the person in honor, good faith, or consistency, to pursue a certain course of conduct, or to adhere to the tenor of that declaration.
9. To refer or intrust to a committee, or select number of persons, for their consideration and report, a term of legislation; as, the petition or the bill is committed. Is it the pleasure of the house to commit the bill?

COM-MIT'MENT, n.

1. The act of committing; a sending to prison; a putting into prison; imprisonment. It is equivalent to aiding or putting in simply; as, a commitment to the Tower, or to Newgate; or for the sake of brevity, omitting the name of the place, it is equivalent to putting into prison; as, the offender is secured by commitment.
2. An order for confining in prison. But more generally we use mittimus.
3. The act of referring or intrusting to a committee for consideration; a term in legislation; as, the commitment of a petition or a bill to a select number of persons for consideration and report.
4. The act of delivering in charge, or intrusting.
5. A doing, or perpetration, as of sin or a crime; commission. – Clarendon.
6. The act of pledging or engaging; or the act of exposing or endangering. [See the verb, Nos. 7 and 8.] Hamilton.

COM-MIT'TAL, n.

A pledge, actual or implied.

COM-MIT'TED, pp.

Delivered in trust; given in charge; deposited; imprisoned; done; perpetrated; engaged; exposed; referred to a committee.

COM-MIT'TEE, n.

One or more persons elected or appointed, to whom any matter or business is referred, either by a legislative body or either branch of it; or by a court, or by any corporation, or by any society, or collective body of men acting together. In legislative bodies, a house or branch of that body may resolve or form itself into a committee, called a committee of the whole house, when the speaker leaves the chair, and one of the members acts as chairman. Standing committees are such as continue during the existence of the legislature, and to these are committed all matters that fall within the purposes of their appointment; as, the committee of elections, or of privileges, &c. Special committees are appointed to consider and report on particular subjects.

COM-MIT'TEE-SHIP, n.

The office and profit of committees. – Milton.

COM-MIT'TER, n.

One who commits; one who does or perpetrates. – South.

COM-MIT'TI-BLE, a.

That may be committed. [Little used.] Brown.

COM-MIT'TING, ppr.

Giving in trust; depositing; imprisoning; perpetrating; engaging; referring to a committee; exposing.

COM-MIX', v.i.

To mix; to mingle. – Shak.

COM-MIX', v.t. [L. commisceo, commixtus; con and misceo, to mix. See Mix.]

To mix or mingle; to blend; to mix, as different substances. – Bacon. Newton.

COM-MIX'ED, pp.

Mixed; blended.

COM-MIX'ING, ppr.

Mixing; blending.

COM-MIX'TION, n.

Mixture; a blending of different ingredients in one mass or compound. – Brown. Mixion is used by Shakspeare, but is hardly legitimate.

COM-MIX'TURE, n.

1. The act of mixing; the state of being mingled; the blending of ingredients in one mass or compound. – Bacon.
2. The mass formed by mingling different things; composition; compound. – Bacon. Shak. Wotton.
3. In Scots law, a method of acquiring property, by blending different substances belonging to different proprietors. – Encyc.

COM-MODE', n. [Fr. from L. commodus, convenient; con or com and modus, manner. See Mode.]

A kind of head-dress formerly worn by ladies. – Addison.