Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COM-MOD'I-TY, n. [L. commoditas; It. comodità; Fr. commodité; W; Sp. comodidad; Port. commodidade. See Commode.]

1. Primarily, convenience; profit; advantage; interest. “Men seek their own commodity.” In this sense it was used by Hooker, Sidney, &c.; but this is nearly or wholly obsolete.
2. That which affords ease, convenience or advantage; any thing that is useful, but particularly in commerce, including every thing movable that is bought and sold, goods, wares, merchandise, produce of land and manufactures. Unless perhaps animals may be excepted, the word includes all the movables which are objects of commerce. Commodities are movables, valuable by money, the common measure. – Locke. The principal use of money is to save the commutation of more bulky commodities. – Arbuthnot. Staple commodities are these which are the produce or manufacture of a country, and constitute the principal articles of exportation. Thus flour is the staple commodity of New York and Pennsylvania; flour and tobacco, of Maryland and Virginia; cotton and rice, of South Carolina and Georgia; cotton and sugar, of Louisiana.