COMMISSARY

commissary

(noun) a retail store that sells equipment and provisions (usually to military personnel)

commissary

(noun) a snack bar in a film studio

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

commissary (plural commissaries)

A store primarily serving persons in an institution, most often soldiers or prisoners.

A cafeteria at a movie studio.

One to whom is committed some charge, duty, or office, by a superior power; a commissioner.

An officer of the bishop, who exercises ecclesiastical jurisdiction in parts of the diocese at a distance from the residence of the bishop.

An officer who supplies provisions to an army.

(Scotland, legal) The judge in a commissary court.

A higher-ranking police officer.

Coordinate terms

(military shop)

• BX

• PX

• shopette

Source: Wiktionary

Com"mis*sa*ry, n.; pl. Commissaries. Etym: [LL. commissarius, fr. L. commissus, p. p. of committere to commit, intrust to. See Commit.]

1. One to whom is committed some charge, duty, or office, by a superior power; a commissioner. Great Destiny, the Commissary of God. Donne.

2. (Eccl.)

Definition: An officer on the bishop, who exercises ecclesiastical jurisdiction in parts of the diocese at a distance from the residence of the bishop. Ayliffe.

3. (Mil.) (a) An officer having charge of a special sevice; as, the commissary of musters. (b) An officer whose business is to provide food for a body of troops or a military post; -- officially called commissary of subsistence. [U. S.] Washington wrote to the President of Congress . . . urging the appointment of a commissary general, a quartermaster general, a commissary of musters, and a commissary of artillery. W. Irving Commissary general, an officer in charge of some special department of army service; as: (a) The officer in charge of the commissariat and transport department, or of the ordinace store department. [Eng.] (b) The commissary general of subsistence. [U. S.] -- Commissary general of subsistence (Mil. U. S.), the head of the subsistence department, who has charge of the purchase and issue of provisions for the army.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition