COMMONS
commonalty, commonality, commons
(noun) a class composed of persons lacking clerical or noble rank
commons, common land
(noun) a pasture subject to common use
park, commons, common, green
(noun) a piece of open land for recreational use in an urban area; “they went for a walk in the park”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Noun
commons
plural of common
Noun
commons
A dining hall, usually at a college or university.
A central section of (usually an older) town, designated as a shared area, a common.
(figuratively) The mutual good of all; the abstract concept of resources shared by more than one, for example air, water, information.
Synonym: res communis
(euphemistic, obsolete) An outhouse.
(obsolete, UK, Oxford University) Food served at a fixed rate from the college buttery, distinguished from battels.
Food in general; rations.
Synonyms
• (outhouse): common house, House of Commons; see also bathroom
Verb
commons
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of common
Etymology
Short for “House of Commons”.
Proper noun
Commons
(UK politics, Canadian politics) The House of Commons, part of the parliament under the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy.
A surname.
Usage notes
Although plural in form, the term takes singular verb forms: “The Commons has risen for the day.” Used by itself, the word is accompanied by the definite article: “The vote in the Commons was an abject humiliation for the Prime Minister.” But when used attributively, the definite article is omitted: “He has drawn the ire of his compatriots on both sides of the aisle during his tenure as Commons Speaker.”
Source: Wiktionary
Com"mons, n. pl.,
1. The mass of the people, as distinguished from the titled chasses
or nobility; the commonalty; the common people. [Eng.]
'T is like the commons, rude unpolished hinds, Could send such
message to their sovereign. Shak.
The word commons in its present ordinary signification comprises all
the people who are under the rank of peers. Blackstone.
2. The House of Commons, or lower house of the British Parliament,
consisting of representatives elected by the qualified voters of
counties, boroughs, and universities.
It is agreed that the Commons were no part of the great council till
some ages after the Conquest. Hume.
3. Provisions; food; fare, -- as that provided at a common table in
colleges and universities.
Their commons, though but coarse, were nothing scant. Dryden.
4. A club or association for boarding at a common table, as in a
college, the members sharing the expenses equally; as, to board in
commons.
5. A common; public pasture ground.
To shake his ears, and graze in commons. Shak.
Doctors' Commons, a place near St. Paul's Chuchyard in London where
the doctors of civil law used to common together, and where were the
ecclesiastical and admiralty courts and offices having jurisdiction
of marriage licenses, divorces, registration of wills, etc.
– To be on short commons, to have small allowance of food.
[Colloq.]
COMMON
Com"mon, a. [Compar. Commoner; superl. Commonest.] Etym: [OE. commun,
comon, OF. comun, F. commun, fr. L. communis; com- + munis ready to
be of service; cf. Skr. mi to make fast, set up, build, Coth. gamains
common, G. gemein, and E. mean low, common. Cf. Immunity, Commune, n.
& v.]
1. Belonging or relating equally, or similary, to more than one; as,
you and I have a common interest in the property.
Though life and sense be common to men and brutes. Sir M. Hale.
2. Belonging to or shared by, affecting or serving, all the members
of a class, consired together; general; public; as, propertis common
to all plants; the common schools; the Book of Common Prayer.
Such actions as the common good requereth. Hocker.
The common enemy of man. Shak.
3. Often met with; usual; frequent; customary.
Grief more than common grief. Shak.
4. Not distinguished or exceptional; inconspicuous; ordinary;
plebeian; -- often in a depreciatory sense.
The honest, heart-felt enjoyment of common life. W. Irving.
This fact was infamous And ill beseeming any common man, Much more a
knight, a captain and a leader. Shak.
Above the vulgar flight of common souls. A. Murpphy.
5. Profane; polluted. [Obs.]
What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. Acts x. 15.
6. Given to habits of lewdness; prostitute.
A dame who herself was common. L'Estrange.
Common bar (Law) Same as Blank bar, under Blank.
– Common barrator (Law), one who makes a business of instigating
litigation.
– Common Bench, a name sometimes given to the English Court of
Common Pleas.
– Common brawler (Law), one addicted to public brawling and
quarreling. See Brawler.
– Common carrier (Law), one who undertakes the office of carrying
(goods or persons) for hire. Such a carrier is bound to carry in all
cases when he has accommodation, and when his fixed price is
tendered, and he is liable for all losses and injuries to the goods,
except those which happen in consequence of the act of God, or of the
enemies of the country, or of the owner of the property himself.
– Common chord (Mus.), a chord consisting of the fundamental tone,
with its third and fifth.
– Common council, the representative (legislative) body, or the
lower branch of the representative body, of a city or other munisipal
corporation.
– Common crier, the crier of a town or city.
– Common divisor (Math.), a number or quantity that divides two or
more numbers or quantities without a remainder; a common measure.
– Common gender (Gram.), the gender comprising words that may be of
either the masculine or the feminine gender.
– Common law, a system of jurisprudence developing under the
guidance of the courts so as to apply a consistent and reasonable
rule to each litigated case. It may be superseded by statute, but
unless superseded it controls. Wharton.
Note: It is by others defined as the unwritten law (especially of
England), the law that receives its binding force from immemorial
usage and universal reception, as ascertained and expressed in the
judgments of the courts. This term is often used in contradistinction
from statute law. Many use it to designate a law common to the whole
country. It is also used to designate the whole body of English (or
other) law, as distinguished from its subdivisions, local, civil,
admiralty, equity, etc. See Law.
– Common lawyer, one versed in common law.
– Common lewdness (Law), the habitual performance of lewd acts in
public.
– Common multiple (Arith.) See under Multiple.
– Common noun (Gram.), the name of any one of a class of objects,
as distinguished from a proper noun (the name of a particular person
or thing).
– Common nuisance (Law), that which is deleterious to the health or
comfort or sense of decency of the community at large.
– Common pleas, one of the three superior courts of common law at
Westminster, presided over by a chief justice and four puisne judges.
Its jurisdiction is confined to civil matters. Courts bearing this
title exist in several of the United States, having, however, in some
cases, botth civil and criminal jurisdiction extending over the whole
State. In other States the jurisdiction of the common pleas is
limited to a county, and it is sometimes called a county court. Its
powers are generally defined by statute.
– Common prayer, the liturgy of the Church of England, or of the
Protestant Episcopal church of the United States, which all its
clergy are enjoined use. It is contained in the Book of Common
Prayer.
– Common school, a school maintained at the public expense, and
open to all.
– Common scold (Law), a woman addicted to scolding
indiscriminately, in public.
– Common seal, a seal adopted and used by a corporation.
– Common sense. (a) A supposed sense which was held to be the
common bond of all the others. [Obs.] Trench. (b) Sound judgment. See
under Sense.
– Common time (Mus.), that variety of time in which the measure
consists of two or of four equal portions.
– In common, equally with another, or with others; owned, shared,
or used, in community with others; affecting or affected equally.
– Out of the common, uncommon; extraordinary.
– Tenant in common, one holding real or personal property in common
with others, having distinct but undivided interests. See Joint
tenant, under Joint.
– To make common cause with, to join or ally one's self with.
Syn.
– General; public; popular; universal; frequent; ordinary;
customary; usual; familiar; habitual; vulgar; mean; trite; stale;
threadbare; commonplace. See Mutual, Ordinary, General.
Com"mon, n.
1. The people; the community. [Obs.] "The weal o' the common." Shak.
2. An inclosed or uninclosed tract of ground for pleasure, for
pasturage, etc., the use of which belongs to the public; or to a
number of persons.
3. (Law)
Definition: The right of taking a profit in the land of another, in common
either with the owner or with other persons; -- so called from the
community of interest which arises between the claimant of the right
and the owner of the soil, or between the claimants and other
commoners entitled to the same right. Common appendant, a right
belonging to the owners or occupiers of arable land to put commonable
beasts upon the waste land in the manor where they dwell.
– Common appurtenant, a similar right applying to lands in other
manors, or extending to other beasts, besides those which are
generally commonable, as hogs.
– Common because of vicinage or neighborhood, the right of the
inhabitants of each of two townships, lying contiguous to each other,
which have usually intercommoned with one another, to let their
beasts stray into the other's fields.
– Common in gross or at large, a common annexed to a man's person,
being granted to him and his heirs by deed; or it may be claimed by
prescriptive right, as by a parson of a church or other corporation
sole. Blackstone.
– Common of estovers, the right of taking wood from another's
estate.
– Common of pasture, the right of feeding beasts on the land of
another. Burill.
– Common of piscary, the right of fishing in waters belonging to
another.
– Common of turbary, the right of digging turf upon the ground of
another.
Com"mon, v. i.
1. To converse together; to discourse; to confer. [Obs.]
Embassadors were sent upon both parts, and divers means of entreaty
were commoned of. Grafton.
2. To participate. [Obs.] Sir T. More.
3. To have a joint right with others in common ground. Johnson.
4. To board together; to eat at a table in common.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition