Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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.