Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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?