Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COM-MON-WEAL', or COM-MON-WEALTH', n. [See Weal and Wealth.]

1. An established form of government, or civil polity; or more generally, a state; a body politic, consisting of a certain portion of men united by compact or tacit agreement, under one form of government and system of laws. This term is applied to the government of Great Britain, which is of a mixed character, and to other governments which are considered as free or popular, but rarely or improperly, to an absolute government. A commonwealth is properly a free state; a popular or representative government; a republic; as, the commonwealth of Massachusetts. The word signifies strictly, the common good or happiness; and hence, the form of government supposed best to secure the public good.
2. The whole body of people in a state; the public. – Shak.
3. The territory of a state; as, all the land within the limits of the commonwealth. – Massachusetts.