Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
COMMENCE
begin, lead off, start, commence
(verb) set in motion, cause to start; “The U.S. started a war in the Middle East”; “The Iraqis began hostilities”; “begin a new chapter in your life”
start, start up, embark on, commence
(verb) get off the ground; “Who started this company?”; “We embarked on an exciting enterprise”; “I start my day with a good breakfast”; “We began the new semester”; “The afternoon session begins at 4 PM”; “The blood shed started when the partisans launched a surprise attack”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
commence (third-person singular simple present commences, present participle commencing, simple past and past participle commenced)
(intransitive) To begin, start.
(transitive) To begin to be, or to act as.
(UK, intransitive, dated) To take a degree at a university.
Antonyms
• cease
• stop
Source: Wiktionary
Com*mence", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Commenced; p. pr. & vb. n. Commencing.] Etym: [F. commencer, OF. commencier, fr. L. com- + initiare to begin. See Initiate.]
1. To have a beginning or origin; to originate; to start; to begin. Here the anthem doth commence. Shak. His heaven commences ere the world be past. Goldsmith.
2. To begin to be, or to act as. [Archaic] We commence judges ourselves. Coleridge.
3. To take a degree at a university. [Eng.] I question whether the formality of commencing was used in that age. Fuller.
Com*mence", v. t.
Definition: To enter upon; to begin; to perform the first act of. Many a wooer doth commence his suit. Shak.
Note: It is the practice of good writers to use the verbal noun (instead of the infinitive with to) after commence; as, he commenced studying, not he commenced to study.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
16 January 2025
BOOK
(noun) a collection of rules or prescribed standards on the basis of which decisions are made; “they run things by the book around here”
Coffee Trivia
