▪ I. common, a.
(ˈkɒmən)
Forms: 3–6 co(m)mun, comune, 3–7 commune, (3–4 co(m)muyn, 5 comvyne), 3–6 co(m)men, 3–4 -in, (4 -ynge), 4–5 co(m)mown(e, 4–6 -oun(e, -yn, comyne, 4–5 comone, 4–6 commone, 4–7 comon, 5– common.
[Early ME. co(m)mun, a. OF. comun (= Pr., Sp. comun, It. commune):—L. commūn-is. The derivation of the latter is doubtful; ? f. com- together + -mūnis (:—moinis) bound, under obligation (cf. early Lat. mūnis obliging, ready to be of service, and immūnis not under obligation, exempt, etc.); or ? f. com- together + unus, in early L. oinos one. The former conjecture is the more tenable, esp. if com-moinis was, as some suggest, cognate with OTeut. ga-maini-z, OHG. gimeini, OE. ᵹemǽne, in same sense. The ME. repr. of the latter, imene, was superseded by the Fr. comun; the accentuation coˈmun is found as late as the 16th c. in verse; but before the date of our earliest quots. in the 13th c., the popular form had become ˈcomun, whence ˈcomyn, ˈcomin, ˈcomen, and the modern pronunciation. Chaucer and Gower have both; coˈmun(e being usual at the end of a line.]
A. adj. I. Of general, public, or non-private nature.
1. a. ‘Belonging equally to more than one’ (J.); possessed or shared alike by both or all (the persons or things in question). † to have (anything) common with: now, to have in common with: see common n. 13 d.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2445 (Cott.) To pastur commun þai laght þe land. 1382 Wyclif Acts ii. 44 Also alle men that bileuyden weren to gidere, and hadden alle thingis comyn [so 1611]. 1543–4 Act 35 Hen. VIII, c. 12 The greate Turke, common enemy of all christendome. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 144 Goates have many thinges common with sheep. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. iv. 18 With whom from tender dug of commune nourse Attonce I was upbrought. 1608–11 Bp. Hall Medit. & Vows ii. §82 He hath the eye of reason common with the best. 1659 J. Leak Waterwks. 14 Let the Pipes D and F be made common by one Pipe. 1671 Milton Samson 1416 The sight Of me, as of a common enemy, So dreaded once. 1791 Burke App. Whigs Wks. VI. 9 The common ruin of king and people. 1832 H. Martineau Life in Wilds ix. 111 The contents being common property. 1840 Lardner Geom. 114 These two triangles have D E as a common base. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 390 [They] have no common ground. |
b. Belonging to all mankind alike; pertaining to the human race as a possession or attribute.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xx. 155 Of all this liff the commoune end, That is the ded. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 140 Not to enjoy y⊇ common ayre. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 698 Longing the common Light again to share. 1754 Sherlock Disc. (1759) I. i. 11 Are you alone exempt from this common, this universal Blindness? 1868 Nettleship Browning ii. 73 The higher attributes of our common humanity. |
† c. General, indiscriminate. Obs.
| 1463 Bury Wills (1850) 17, I will no comown dole haue, but..eche pore man and eche pore wouman beyng there haue j d. to prey for me. |
2. Belonging to more than one as a result or sign of co-operation, joint action, or agreement; joint, united. to make common cause (with): to unite one's interests with those of another, to league together. (See cause n. 11.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 9709 (Cott.) Wit-vten vr al comun a-sent Agh to be mad na jugement. c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 57 This was the comyn voys of every man. 1538 Starkey England i. i. 11 A polytyke ordur..stablyschyd by commyn assent. 1594 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Litany, With one accorde to make our commune supplicacions unto thee. 1682 Dryden Relig. Laici Pref., Wks. (Globe) 185 The weapons..are to be employed for the common cause against the enemies of piety. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. v. 349 The habit of common action was still new. |
3. Const. in previous senses: a. to.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 10 That ben commune to me and the. 1509 Fisher Wks. 130 Lawes whiche be comyn bothe to poore and ryche. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 32 Outwarde sense, which is common too vs with bruite beasts. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. ii. iii, Commune to all metalls, and all stones. 1714 Addison Spect. No. 556 ¶12 Faults common to both Parties. 1769 Goldsm. Rom. Hist. (1786) II. 165 Crimes..which were common to the emperor, as well as to him. 1879 Lockyer Elem. Astron. 296 The force of gravity is common to all kinds of matter. |
b. between.
| 1832 Marryat N. Forster iii, They never corresponded (for there was nothing common between them). 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 82. 1866 J. Martineau Ess. I. 183 Between ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ there is nothing common. |
4. Of general application, general.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 114 Þe fyrste crede..is more comyn and more schortyr þan eny oþer. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. (MS. B.) 5 Þe firste chappyttle of þe secunde techynge a comyn word off wrenchynges out of joynte. 1570 Billingsley Euclid i. post. i. 7 Common sentences [axioms] are generall to all things wherunto they can be applied. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lvii. §6 Both that which is general or common, and that also which is peculiar unto itself. 1860 Abp. Thomson Laws Th. 15 Common notions. |
5. a. Of or belonging to the community at large, or to a community or corporation; public.
common crier, public or town crier. † common clerk, town clerk. † common hunt, ‘the chief huntsman belonging to the lord mayor and aldermen of London’ (Chambers Cycl. 1751). common seal, the official seal used by a corporation. So common council, hall, Serjeant.
(Applied to such nouns as hangman, gaol, stocks, etc., common seems to acquire some opprobrious force; cf. 6 b, c, and 8; also the use of vulgar.)
| 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 541 At Seinte Marie churche a clerc the commun belle rong. c 1350 Usages of Winchester in Eng. Gilds 359 A seal commune and an autentyk, myd wham men seleþ þe chartres of ffeffement of þe town. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1366 The cok, commune astrologer. 1382 Wyclif Acts v. 18 And puttiden hem in comun kepyng [1388 in the comyn warde; Vulg. in custodia publica]. 1426 E.E. Wills (1882) 75 Iohn Carpynter, comon clerk. 1467 Ord. Worcester in Eng. Gilds 391 That no citezen be putt in comyn prisone, but in oon of the chambors of the halle benethforth. 1535 Coverdale Acts xvii. 22 Paul stode on the myddes of the comon place. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. ii. 9 Heere is in our prison a common executioner. 1697 Lond. Gaz. No. 3341/2 Then the King's Banner born by the Common Hunt. 1714 Ibid. No. 5261/3 The Common-Cryer and the City-Swordbearer on Horseback. 1718 P. Ludlow in Swift's Lett. 10 Sept., I send you the inclosed pamphlet by a private hand, not daring to venture it by the common post. 1775 Burke Sp. Conc. Amer. Wks. III. 89 Did they burn it by the hands of the common hangman? 1859 Tennyson Geraint & Enid 450 He sow'd a slander in the common ear. |
b. In various phrases which translate or represent L. res publica, as † common good, common profit, common thing, common utility: see commonweal, commonwealth.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. iv. 13 Commune þinges or comunabletes weren blysful, yif þei þat haden studied al fully to wisdom gouerneden þilke þinges. c 1386 ― Clerk's T. 375 But eek, whan that the cas requyred it, The commune profit coude she redresse. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 245 Whan Romulus hadde ordeyned for the comoun profiȝt [1450 hade institute the commune vtilitie; Higden Cum instituisset Romulus rem publicam]. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 139 As he was beholde The comun profit for to save. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 89 Comowne þynge, or comown goode, Res publica. 1475 Bk. Noblesse 68 The terme of Res publica, whiche is in Englisshe tong clepid a comyn profit. 1646 J. Benbrigge Vsura Acc. 2 More fully would they emptie themselves into the Maine Ocean of the Common-Good. |
c. common right: the right of every citizen. [Cf. F. le droit commun, la loi établie dans un état, l'usage général.]
| c 1298 R. Glouc. 500 ‘Commune riȝt’, quath Pandulf, ‘we esseth, & namore’. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. i. iii. (1602) 9 Let..common right be done to all, as well poore, as rich. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. iii. 5 Doe me the common right To let me see them. |
6. a. Free to be used by every one, public.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 127 Heo is..As comuyn as þe Cart-wei to knaues and to alle. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 143 His ffayre perkes wer comene, And lothlych by-dyght. He closed hys perkes ayene. 1479 Bury Wills (1850) 53 The comoun wey ledyng frome Euston Mille to Rosshworthe. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. iii. 33 A theeuish liuing on the common rode. 1662–3 Pepys Diary 12 Jan., The Privy Garden (which is now a through-passage and common). a 1674 Clarendon Surv. Leviath. (1676) 29 They lock their doors that their Houses may not be Common. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. i. 64 It is as common, said they, as this Hill is, to and for all the Pilgrims. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull 108 With that John marched out of the common road cross the country. 1859 Jephson Brittany ii. 19, [I] took my seat on a bench at the common table. |
b. common woman: a harlot; so common prostitute, with which compare c. and sense 8.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 7176 Siþen [Sampson] went vntil a tun Til a wijf þat was commun. 1362 [see prec.]. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 231 Þe riȝtful & witti dom þat salamon dide bitwixen tweie comyn wymmen. c 1440 Gesta Rom. 391 There she was a Comyn woman, and toke all that wolde come. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, v. iii. 17 He would vnto the Stewes, And from the common'st creature plucke a Gloue And weare it as a fauour. 1611 ― Cymb. i. vi. 105. 1663 Pepys Diary 18 May, Mrs. Stuart is..they say now a common mistress to the King, as my Lady Castlemaine is. 1793 Bp. Watson Apol. Bible 264 Your insinuation that Mary Magdalene was a common woman. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 163 The common prostitute rarely has any offspring. |
c. In various semi-legal or statutory designations, as common alehouse, common brewer, common carrier, etc., the original meaning appears to be ‘existing for the use of the public’ as opposed to ‘private’, recognized by the law as bound to serve the public; though other senses have become associated with this. common lodgings or common lodging-house, a lodging-house in which beds may be obtained for the night (see quot. 1860). (See also quot. 1952.)
| 1465 Paston Lett. No. 518 The berer of this lettir is a comon carrier. 1583, 1642 [see carrier 3] 1601 Dent Pathw. to Heaven 248 You are..a drinker, a common alehouse-haunter. 1614 Rowlands Fooles Bolt E iij, A Common Alehouse in this age of sinne, Is now become a common Drunkards Inne. 1707 Lond. Gaz. No. 4293/3 Malt-Milne, and all Conveniencies fit for a Common Brewer. 1851 Act 14 & 15 Vict. c. 28 (title) An Act for the well ordering of Common Lodging Houses. 1860 Act 23 Vict. c. 26 §3 The Term ‘Common Lodging House’ shall mean a House in which Persons are harboured or lodged for Hire for a single Night, or for less than a Week at a Time, or any Part of which is let for any Term less than a Week. 1887 J. W. Smith Man. Com. Law (ed. 10) 523 Every common carrier is under a legal obligation to carry all things..which he publicly professes to carry. 1888 Times 13 Oct. 12/1 Living in common lodging-houses. 1891 [see lodging-house]. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 680/2 The class found in casual wards, shelters, and common lodgings. 1952 Stroud's Judicial Dict. (ed. 3) I. 542 There is nothing in s. 235 of the Public Health Act, 1936.., requiring the period of letting of lodgings in a common lodging house to be for a single night or for less than a week. |
7. That is matter of public talk or knowledge, generally known. common bruit, common fame, etc.: popular rumour or report. † to make common: to make public, to publish.
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 304 As the common report went. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 111 Doth not common experience make this common unto vs? 1595 Shakes. John iv. ii. 187 Yong Arthurs death is common in their mouths. 1607 ― Timon v. i. 196 As common bruite doth put it. 1643–5 Years King Jas. in Select. Harl. Misc. (1793) 308 To write the particulars of their arraignments, confessions, and the manner of their deaths is needless, being common. 1692 Prideaux Direct. Ch.-wardens (ed. 4) 6 They are bound to Present not only from their own Knowledge, but also from common Fame. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 93 Whereby a common reputation of their matrimony may ensue. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 581 How important it is that common fame, however strong and general, should not be received as a legal proof of guilt. |
8. Said of criminals, offenders, and offences; as common barrator, common scold, common swearer; common nuisance, common gaming house, etc.
(It is difficult to fix the original sense: those of ‘public, apert, overt, confessed’, ‘the subject of common report’, ‘notorious’, and ‘habitual’ appear all to enter in; in quot. 1369 comune has been explained as ‘accustomed, wont’, which comes near that of ‘habitual’.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 2193 To comun lechours y þys seye, Many wyþoutë shryfte shul deye. 1340 Ayenb. 37 Þe þyef commun and open byeþ þo þet be zuiche crefte libbeþ. c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 812 Fortune, That is to lyen ful comune, The false trayteresse, pervers. 1547 Art. Inquiry in Cardwell Doc. Annals (1844) I. 52 Item, Whether parsons, vicars, curates, and other priests, be common haunters and resorters to taverns or alehouses. 1563 Homilies ii. Idleness (1859) 521 Idle vagabonds and loitering runagates..being common liars, drunkards, swearers. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 644 A common homicide and butcherly murderer. 1614 Rowlands Fooles Bolt E iij, Certaine common abuses, A common Vag'rant, should by law be stript, And by a common Beadle soundly whipt..A common Rogue is tennant for the Stockes. [See the whole poem.] 1769 Blackstone Comm. IV. 169 A common scold, communis rixatrix..is a public nusance to her neighbourhood. 1771 Wesley Wks. (1872) V. 221 The baptized liars and common swearers. 1853 Wharton Digest 501 The offence of being a common scold is indictable. |
† 9. [L. commūnis.] Generally accessible, affable, familiar. Obs. but perhaps entering into the sense in such a phrase as ‘to make oneself too common’, which has, however, various associations with senses 10, 11, and esp. 14.
| 1382 Wyclif 2 Macc. ix. 27 For to be comoun to ȝou [1388 tretable; Vulg. communem vobis]. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 5 His frendes blamede hym for he was so comyn to alle manere men. 1609 Bible (Douay) 2 Macc. ix. 27, I trust that he wil deale modestly and gently..and that he wil be common unto you. |
II. Of ordinary occurrence and quality; hence mean, cheap.
10. a. In general use; of frequent occurrence; usual, ordinary, prevalent, frequent.
| c 1300 Cursor M. 28045 Bot þir er said þus at þe leste forþi þat þai er comoneste. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour L iv b, These wordes are but sport and esbatement of lordes and of felawes in a language moche comyn. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. ii. ii. (1588) 109 The commune maner is, to take two Suerties. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 7 The word is not common amongst us. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. cii, Sweets grown common lose their dear delight. 1611 Bible Eccl. vi. 1 There is an euill which I haue seen vnder the Sun, and it is common among men. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxix. 454 The White Willow, which is a tree so common in watery situations. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 54 So common a phenomenon as the formation of dew. |
† b. Of things: ? Familiar, well-known. Obs.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 83 All be they nought to me comune, The scoles of philosophy. |
11. a. Having ordinary qualities; undistinguished by special or superior characteristics; pertaining to or characteristic of ordinary persons, life, language, etc.; ordinary.
| c 1386 Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 99 Yet seye I this, as to commune entente. Thus muche amounteth al þat euere he mente. c 1475 Babees Bk. (1868) 1 This tretys the whiche I thenke to wryte Out of latyn in-to my comvne langage. 1490 Caxton Eneydos Prol. A j b, Comyn englysshe that is spoken in one shyre varyeth from a nother. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 293 So did this horse excel a common one In shape, etc. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 371 This would surpass Common revenge. 1704 Swift T. Tub Author's Apol., The commonest reader will find, etc. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 287 ¶6 The common Run of Mankind. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 161 ¶13 The business of common life. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xiv. (1878) 298 Here at least was no common mind. 1878 R. W. Dale Lect. Preach. ii. 47 If the common language of common men will serve our turn, we should use it. |
b. Such as is expected in ordinary cases; of no special quality; mere, bare, simple,{ddd}at least.
| 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. ii, Should he not first in common sense, in common equity, and common manners have consulted the principal party concerned? 1736 Butler Anal. i. iv. 108 Absolutely necessary to our acting even a common decent, and common prudent part. 1853 Lytton My Novel ii. vi. 76 In common gratitude, you see (added the Mayor, coaxingly), I ought to be knighted. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 33 We do not stop to reason about common honesty. |
c. Secular; lay; not sacred or holy.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 20 And yet lyven as yvel as oþir common men. 1559 in Strype Ann. Ref. I. App. viii. 22 Monasteries..suppressyd by kings, and other common persons. 1608–11 Bp. Hall Epist. vi. Recollect. Treat. 561 How I would passe my dayes, whether common or sacred. 1771 Wesley Wks. (1872) VI. 151 Vending their wares as on common days. |
12. a. Of persons: Undistinguished by rank or position; belonging to the commonalty; of low degree; esp. in phr. the common people, the masses, populace. (Sometimes contemptuous.)
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 110 Þe comon folk. c 1340 Cursor M. 235 (Trin.) For comune folk of engelonde Shulde þe bettur hit vndirstonde. c 1380 Antecrist in Todd 3 Treat. Wyclif 127 Þat mynystren þe sacramentis to þe comyn peple. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 89 Comowne pepylle, vulgus. 1535 Coverdale Jer. xxxix. 8 What so euer was left of the comen sorte. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. i. 31 Ill beseeming any common man, Much more a Knight, a Captaine, and a Leader. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 70 ¶1 The Songs and Fables..in Vogue among the common People. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 317 How little does the common herd know of the nature of right and truth. 1889 Miss Zimmern Hansa Towns 92 The middle class sprang into full being..as a link between the nobility and the common people. |
b. common soldier: an ordinary member of the army, without rank or distinction of any kind.
Ludlow mentions it as an example of the growing insolence of the Parliamentary army, that the men would no longer be called common but private soldiers. The latter is now the official expression, ‘common’ being liable to contemptuous associations, as in various other senses. So with common sailor; also common carpenter, common labourer, etc., where the primary sense was prob. ‘ordinary’ (11).
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 506 There were taken prisoners..two hundred Gentlemen, besides common souldiours. 1648 in Tanner MS. LVII. fol. 218 We tooke most of their officers..and 80 common soldiers. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. viii. (1843) 487/2 Obtained with the loss of one inferior officer, and two or three common men. a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. i. (1691) 30 A common and private Soldier..to venture their Lives for Six pence a day. 1756 Connoisseur No. 84 ¶3 A common sailor too is full as polite as a common soldier. 1824 Byron Juan xvi. lxxvi, As common soldiers, or a common—shore. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 416 The wages of the common agricultural labourer. 1853 Lytton My Novel iv. xiii. 193 Jane Fairfield, who married a common carpenter. |
13. Used to indicate the most familiar or most frequently occurring kind or species of any thing, which requires no specific name; esp. of plants and animals, in which the epithet tends to become part of the specific name, as in common nightshade, common snake, etc. common salt: chloride of sodium: see salt. common or garden: see garden n. 5 c.
| c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 49 Ȝiff þou wylle make a comyne sew. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 157 The common Poultrie, that we keepe about our houses. 1676 Phil. Trans. XI. 613 The Salt, that is called Common-Salt. 1748 Franklin Wks. (1840) V. 221 Common fire is in all bodies, more or less, as well as electrical fire. 1789 G. White Selborne xiii. (1853) 56 Vast flocks of the common linnet. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxix. 455 Common or White Misseltoe (Viscum album Lin.). 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 215 The sub-varieties of the common pea are never-ending. 1847 Carpenter Zool. §11 The Common Dog is a species of the genus Canis. |
14. In depreciatory use: a. Of merely ordinary or inferior quality, of little value, mean; not rare or costly.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 409 Ich wol drynke of no dich, ne of no deop cleregie, Bote of comune coppes, alle cristene soules. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 61 The windowes of painted glasse (no common ware). 1675 Traherne Chr. Ethics xxv. 378 Every thing that is divested of all its excellence, is common, if not odious, and lost to our affection. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. vii. 89 And while she loves that common Wreath to wear, Nor Bays, nor Myrtle Boughs, with Hazel shall compare. 1821 Byron Irish Avatar viii, He is but the commonest clay. 1884 Manch. Exam. 17 May 5/1 Tobacco of the commoner sort. |
b. Of persons and their qualities: Low-class, vulgar, unrefined.
| 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xxx. (1878) 526 Her speech was very common. Mod. Who is she? she has rather a common look. |
15. Not ceremonially clean or sanctified. (In N.T. and derived use: = Hellenistic Gr. κοινός.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 19871 (Cott.) Call noght comun, it es vn-right, Þat clenged has vr lauerd dright. 1382 Wyclif Acts x. 14, I neuere eet al comyn thing and vnclene. 1526 Tindale Mark vii. 2 They sawe certayne of his disciples eate breed with commen hondes (that is to saye, with vnwesshen hondes). 1611 Bible Acts x. 14. 1849 Robertson Serm. Ser. iv. xiv. (1882) 137 Sanctified by Him, there can be no man common or unclean. |
III. Technical uses:
* from I.
16. Math. Said of a number or quantity which belongs equally to two or more quantities; as in common denominator, common divisor, common factor, common measure, common multiple; common difference, common ratio (in series).
| 1594 Blundevil Exerc. i. vii. (ed. 7) 26 Multiply the Denominators the one into the other, and the Product therof shall bee a common Denominator to both the fractions. 1827 Hutton Course Math. I. 53 The Common Measure of two or more numbers, is that..which will divide them all without remainder. 1875 Jevons Money (1878) 123 A geometrical series with the common ratio 3. |
17. Gram. and Logic. a. common noun, common substantive, common name, common term: a name applicable to each of the individuals or species which make up a class or genus.
| [1551 Turner Herbal i. K iv a, Alga whiche is a common name vnto a great parte of see herbes. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. i. 104 Homo is a common name to all men. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. 681 For Witness is a Common Name to all. 1846 Mill Logic (1856) I. 30 The word colour, which is a name common to whiteness, redness, etc.] |
| 1725 Watts Logic i. iv. §4 Names are either common or proper. Common names are such as stand for universal ideas, or a whole rank of beings. 1765 W. Ward Gram. 30 The common or appellative substantive, by which every object of its class..is denoted. 1866 T. Fowler Deduct. Logic (1887) 13 A common term is equally applicable to each individual severally of the group which it expresses, and it is so in virtue of certain points of similarity which all the individuals possess in common. |
b. In Latin, Greek, etc.: Of either gender, optionally masculine or feminine. (b) In some langs., as Danish, applied to the single grammatical gender into which the masculine and feminine have coalesced. (c) In modern English Grammar: Applicable to individuals of either sex, as parent, spouse, swan.
| 1530 Palsgr. Introd. 24 Genders they have thre, the masculyn, femenyn, and the commyn both to the masculyn and femenyn. Ibid. 30 Se..beyng of the commen gendre. 1857 Danish Gram. 8 There are in Danish only two Genders for the Nouns, the Common Gender and the Neuter. To the Common Gender belong the names of men, women, animals, etc. 1871 Roby Lat. Gram. §315 In Ennius and Nævius puer, nepos, and socrus are common. 1875 R. Morris Elem. Hist. Gram. 66 Witch was of the common gender up to a very late period. |
c. Latin and Greek Gram. Applied to verbs that have both an active and a passive signification.
| 1530 Palsgr. 107 The Latins have many other sortes of verbes personalles, besydes actives, as neuters, deponentes, commons. 1755 Johnson s.v., Such verbs as signify both action and passion are called common; as aspernor, I despise, or am despised. |
d. Prosody. Of syllables (in words or in metrical schemes): Optionally short or long, of variable quantity. (Marked thus: {shtlong1} or {shtlong2}).
| 1699 Bentley Phal. 132 All the Moderns before had supposed, that the last Syllable of every Verse was common, as well in Anapæsts, as they are known to be in Hexameters and others. 1871 Roby Lat. Gram. §281 In Nominatives of Proper names with consonant stems o is common. Ibid. §287 In D{ibrevemac}ana and {obrevemac}hē the first syllable is common. |
18. a. Anat. Said of the trunk from which two or more arteries, veins, or nerves are given off, as the common carotid arteries. b. Bot. Said of an organ which has a joint relation to several distinct parts, as common calyx, common perianth, common petiole, common receptacle. common bud: one that contains both leaves and flowers. common bundle: see quot.
| [1750 Linnæus Philos. Bot. 54 Receptaculum commune.] 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. vi. 63 All these little flowers are..inclosed in a calyx, which is common to them all, and which is that of the daisy. 1842 E. Wilson Anat. Vade-M. 349 The common iliac veins are formed by the union of the external and internal iliac vein on each side of the pelvis. 1857 Henfrey Elem. Bot. 78 An involucre of overlapping bracts, presenting a convex, flat or concave surface (common receptacle), upon which are crowded a number of sessile flowers. Ibid. 79 This inflorescence was formerly called a compound flower, and its involucre a common calyx. 1875 Bennett tr. Sachs' Bot. 134 In Phanerogams..the whole [fibro-vascular] bundle is a ‘common’ one, i.e. common to both stem and leaves. |
c. common feeling = cœnæsthesis.
| 1837 [see cœnæsthesis]. 1897 C. H. Judd tr. Wundt's Outl. Psychol. 161 The common feeling is always the immediate expression of our sensible comfort and discomfort. |
** Technical uses from II.
19. a. Mus. common chord: see chord n.2 3. common time (or common measure), time or rhythm consisting of two or four beats in a bar; esp. applied to 4–4 time (4 crotchets in a bar). common turn: see turn n. 5.
| 1674 Playford Skill Mus. i. x. 34 This is called the Dupla or Semibreve Time (but many call it the Common Time, because most used). 1749 Numbers in Poet. Comp. 31 In Tunes of Common-Time. 1880 Grove's Dict. Mus. I. 381/1 Although the term common time is generally applied to all equal rhythms, it properly belongs only to that of four crotchets in a bar..denoted by the sign C. |
b. common metre: an iambic stanza of four lines containing 8 and 6 syllables alternately.
| 1718 Watts Psalms Pref., I have formed my verse in the three most usual metres to which our psalm tunes are fitted, namely, the common metre, the metre of the old twenty-fifth psalm, which I call short metre, and that of the old hundredth psalm, which I call long metre. |
20. Building. (See quots.)
| 1823 Crabb Technol. Dict., Common centering, a centering without trusses, having a tie-beam at the bottom. Common joists, the beams in single, naked flooring, to which the joists are fixed. Common rafters, those to which the boarding or lathing is fixed. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 128 Common rafters are inclined pieces of timber, parallel to the principal rafters, supported by the pole-plates. 1842–76 Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Common roofing, that which consists of common rafters only, which bridge over the purlins in a strongly framed roof. 1850 Weale Dict. Terms, Common pitch, an old term still applied by country workmen to a roof in which the length of the rafters is about three-fourths of the entire span. |
21. Legal and other phrases (mostly from I.). common assurances: the legal evidences of the translation of property; † common bail: see quot; † common bar: a bar to an action for trespass, produced by the defendant's allegation that the place on which the alleged trespass occurred was his own; † common bench: old name of the Court of Common Pleas (see bench n. 2 b); common case: a single word-form or grammatical case serving the syntactic and semantic functions of a number of different case-forms of inflected languages, as in modern English, where the uninflected base of nouns corresponds to the nominative, vocative, accusative, etc., cases of nouns in some other languages; also attrib.; common cold = cold n. 4 b; † common court: court of Common Pleas; common dialect [Gr. ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος]: the form of the Greek language employed by prose writers from the Macedonian conquest to the Byzantine period; common field: = common n.; † common fine: see quot.; common form: (a) a form of probate in which the grant is made by the executor's own oath without opposition; (b) a customary form of words used in the pleadings in actions at common law; (c) a form of words common to documents of the same species; hence colloq., a formula, mode of behaviour, etc., of general application; common informer: see informer 3; † common intendment: see intendment; common jury: see jury; common land: = common n.; common market: a group of countries imposing few or no duties on trade with one another and a common tariff on trade with outside countries; spec. (with capital initials), the trade association of France, the German Federal Republic, Italy, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg instituted in 1958; also attrib., transf., and fig.; hence common marketeer; † common person: a person who acts for or represents another; a number: see person; common recovery: see recovery; common roll: a roll of electors which includes in a single series the members of two or more different races; also attrib.; common school (U.S.): a school publicly maintained for elementary education; † common service: = common prayer; common-sex pronoun: a pronoun applicable to both masculine and feminine; † common side: the side of Newgate where common offenders were imprisoned (opp. to State side); common stock (N. Amer.): ordinary shares; also ellipt. common; common tenancy: = tenancy in common (see common n. 13 e); † common wit: = common sense.
| 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. 294 The legal evidences of this translation of property are called the *common assurances of the kingdom; whereby every man's estate is assured to him. |
| 1678 Butler Hud. iii. iii. 765 Where Vouchers, Forgers, *Common-bayl, And Affidavit-men, ne'r fail T'expose to Sale all sorts of Oaths. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 287 The defendant..puts in sureties for his future attendance and obedience; which sureties are called common bail. 1848 Wharton Law Lex. s.v. Bail, Common bail, or bail below, is given to the sheriff, after arresting a person, on a bail-bond, entered into by two sureties, on condition that the defendant appear at the day and in such place as the arresting process commands. |
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 351 Chiefe Justice of the *common benche. |
| 1892 H. Sweet New Eng. Gram. I. i. 52 English has only one inflected case, the genitive (man's men's), the uninflected base constituting the *common case (man, men). 1894 Jespersen Progress in Lang. 166 The old nominative, accusative, dative and instrumental cases have coalesced to form a common case. 1961 R. B. Long Sentence ii. 36 Words of no other kind [than verbs] take the nominative and common-case forms of the personal pronouns as prepositive modifiers in this way. |
| 1786 E. Sheridan Jrnl. (1960) 82 With proper care that disorder is now almost less than a *common cold. 1872 [see cold n. 4 b]. 1937 H. G. Wells Star Begotten ix. 175 That beats us—just as the common cold beats us—or cancer. |
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. iii. 318 Kynges courte and *comune courte, consistorie and chapitele, Al shal be but one courte, and one baroun be iustice. |
| 1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 428/2 Thus the Attic dialect, somewhat modified by the peculiarities of other dialects, was called the common or Hellenic dialect..Poetry however was not written in this *common dialect. |
| 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 2 In the *commyn feldes among other mennes landes. 1705 Stanhope Paraph. II. 171 A mixture of Tares in this Common-field of the World. 1822 Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 98 Those very ugly things, common-fields, which have all the nakedness, without any of the smoothness, of Downs. |
| 1641 Termes de la Ley 68 *Common Fine is a certain summe of money which the resiants in a Leet pay unto the Lord of the Leet, and it is called in some places Head-silver. |
| 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. 508 The executor..must prove the will of the deceased: which is done either in *common form, which is only upon his own oath before the ordinary, or his surrogate; or per testes, in more solemn form of law, in case the validity of the will be disputed. 1797 Tomlins Jacob's Law-Dict. s.v. Pleading i. 2 Special Pleas..always advance some new fact not mentioned in the declaration; and then they must be [ed. Granger (1835) they formerly must have been] averred to be true, in the common form:—‘and this he is ready to verify.’ 1820 in Barnewell & Alderson Rep. Cases K.B. III. 451 If the argument on the part of the plaintiff prevail, the common form of pleading not guilty of the grievances is bad upon special demurrer. 1857 Act 20 & 21 Vict. c. 77 §2 ‘Common Form Business’ shall mean the Business of obtaining Probate and Administration where there is no Contention as to the Right thereto, [etc.]. 1871 [see form n. 9]. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 572/2 Probate is confined as a rule to wills of personalty or of mixed personalty and realty, and is either in common form, where no opposition to the grant is made, or in solemn form, generally after opposition, when the witnesses appear in court. 1905 Spectator 18 Feb. 242 The article is what lawyers know as ‘common form’, and means simply that the nation leaves it to its Executive to settle the details. 1931 S.P.E. Tract xxxvi. 517 If you should split all your infinitives, evidently the device would lose its peculiar efficacy: the locution would become mere common form. 1932 Kipling Limits & Renewals 14 The girl, of course, is in love with a younger and a poorer man. Common form? Granted. |
| 1954 Ann. Reg. 1953 153 The provisions..for the gradual establishment of a European *common market. 1956 Planning 17 Dec. 225 In a free trade area each participating country is allowed to fix its own tariff to countries outside the free trade area; a common market requires an external tariff. 1957 Economist 12 Oct. Suppl. 1 The Common Market: a treaty to set up a European Economic Community signed at Rome in March by six countries. 1958 Punch 1 Jan. 75/2 The Common Market countries very naturally are not prepared to admit Britain to partnership as a favoured nation. 1961 B.B.C. Handbk. (1962) 34 What prospects of new material, exciting material, from the United States and from Canada this opens up—a common market of the air. 1962 Listener 8 Mar. 445/1 In its relations with other Christian Communions it [sc. Anglicanism] moves carefully towards the goal of a common market of worship that may demand some sacrifice of national character. Ibid. 26 July 125/2 The same preferential treatment obtaining between the six Common Marketeers. 1963 Ibid. 17 Jan. 110/2 They [sc. the progressive African leaders] usually seek wider areas of economic coordination and have begun to talk of the possibility of an African common market. 1970 Daily Tel. 17 Apr. 2/8 The surgeon..predicted a future European ‘common market’ of transplant organs. |
| 1955 Times 6 July 8/3 The congress demanded that the principle of the *common roll should be granted now. 1958 Economist 1 Nov. 402/2 A trial run for the common roll elections due in 1961. |
| a 1657 W. Bradford Hist. Plimoth Plantation (1899) 194 We have no *comone schoole for want of a fitt person. 1795 in R. Boese Public Educ. in City of N.Y. (1869) 21 The establishment of Common Schools throughout the state. 1886 Morley Pop. Culture Crit. Misc. III. 10, I could not help noticing that the history classes in their common schools all began their work with the year 1776. |
| 1580 J. Fecknam in Strype Ann. Ref. I. App. xxxi, The Book of *Common Service, now used in the Church of England. |
| 1922 Jespersen Lang. xviii. 347 How convenient it is to have the *common-sex pronouns lu (he or she), singlu, [etc.]. |
| 1708 Motteux Rabelais iv. lxvi. (1737) 271 The very Out-casts of the County-Goal's *Common-side. 1725 Lond. Gaz. No. 6385/3 Prisoner in the Common Side of Newgate. 1812 Examiner 7 Sept. 574/2 note, The Common-side of the Prison. |
| 1888 Realty & Building (Chicago) 27 Oct. 3/2 The St. Paul has not challenged particular attention since the first effects of its passage of the dividend on the *common stock were spent. 1966 ‘E. Lathen’ Murder makes Wheels go Round i. 4 ‘We're thinking in terms of an offering of one million five of the common,’ he said. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Feb. B4/4 Investment in common stocks isn't a pat answer to inflation. |
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. xxv. (Tollem. MS.), Þe lyme of þe *comyn wit [organum sensus communis] is bounde. The whiche lyme is centrum and middel of all þe parties. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxiv. ii, These are the v. wyttes..Fyrst, commyn wytte, and than ymaginacyon, Fantasy, and estymacyon truely, And memory. |
22. Comb., as in adjs. † common-booked, common-faced, † common-hackneyed, † common-kissing, common-sized, etc.; in sense 14, common-looking.
| 1586 Warner Alb. Eng ii. x. 48 Common-booked Poetrie. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 40 Had I so lauish of my presence beene, So common hackney'd in the eyes of men. 1611 ― Cymb. iii. iv. 166 Exposing it..to the greedy touch Of common-kissing Titan. 1820 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 302/1 Apt to dress up common-sized thoughts in big clothes. 1838 Dickens O. Twist viii, He was a snub-nosed, flat-browed, common-faced boy enough. 1858 Greener Gunnery 305 With a common-sized gun. 1860–5 A. Lincoln in Cent. Mag. Feb. (1890) 573/2 ‘He is a common-looking fellow’, some one said. 1883 Lloyd Ebb & Flow II. 294 A rough common-looking woman. |
B. quasi-adv. = commonly. Obs. exc. U.S. colloq.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 28045 (Cott.) Þai ar funden communest. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. i. iii. 117 Because that I am more then common tall. 1784 New Spectator I. 5/2 Beards..in this country are worn..as common as wigs and pig-tails among us. 1798 Monthly Mag. ii. 437/2 Silly is used for weak in body..for common, commonly. 1883 Sweet & Knox Through Texas (1884) 44 He had sort o' aggravated me more than common that morning. 1916 E. Porter Just David 75 We don't use this room common, little boy. |
Add: [21.] commonhold n. (freq. attrib.): in the U.K., a scheme of flat ownership under which tenants own their flat on a freehold basis, but share certain responsibilities and pay for certain services in common; so commonholder.
| 1987 Law Comm. Commonhold ii. 5 in Parl. Papers (Cmnd. 179), *Commonhold, property which is divided into freehold units, possibly but not necessarily with some collectively used property as well, managed as a whole under the proposed Commonhold Act. 1990 Independent 24 Feb. 38/1 The Law Commission proposals would enable commonholders collectively to share the benefits and responsibilities of owning the freehold of a block of flats. 1991 Which? Oct. 581/2 A commonhold association, in which all the flat-owners have a vote, will have certain legal obligations, such as managing a reserve fund for major repairs, and keeping proper accounts. |
▸ common as dirt (also muck) colloq.: (a) that occurs often; widespread; (b) depreciative of a low social status; coarse, vulgar.
| 1892 R. L. Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker xiii. 280, I don't say the type's not common in these waters; it's as common as dirt; the traders carry them for surf-boats. a 1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) III. xx, What're we, anyhow, to put on airs? We're as common as dirt—yes, and that sniffy lady friend of yours, too. 1953 H. Clevely Public Enemy iii. 14 ‘She's coarse,’ Christine continued. ‘Flashy and vulgar. Common as dirt.’ 1992 R. Wright Stolen Continents (1993) i. 22 Like Columbus before him, he was living in a fantasy, expecting at any moment to find a kingdom where gold was common as muck. 2002 Daily Star (Nexis) 8 July 9 Lillian's so hoity-toity, she makes Annie Walker seem as common as muck. |
▸ common touch n. an ability to get on with and appeal to ordinary people, esp. those considered to be of a lower professional or social status; freq. with the.
| 1910R. Kipling If in Rewards & Fairies 176 If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings—nor lose the *common touch,..Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it. 1929 L. P. Stryker Andrew Johnson: Study in Courage xxiv. 196 His life had been a vindication of democracy, no less than Lincoln's struggle from flat-boatman to the White House. Hardship and poverty had given him the common touch. 1964 Times 11 Nov. 13/5 No one who has seen the President talking to villagers..can think that he lacks ‘the common touch’. 1994 H. Burton Leonard Bernstein iv. xxxiii, Meanwhile word spread through Vienna about Bernstein's common touch. At the Atrium night club, Newsweek noted, ‘he peeled off his jacket, loosened his tie and frugged far into the night.’ 2000 Times 5 Sept. ii. 4/1 Feathery-haired iron lady with the common touch who, as Northern Ireland Secretary, bullied and harried loyalists and republicans to the negotiating table. |
▪ II. common, n.1
(ˈkɒmən)
For forms see common a.
[In some senses repr. F. commune = med.L. commūna, commūnia (see commune n.1); in others repr. the L. word commūne immediately; in others the Eng. adj. taken substantively.]
† 1. The common body of the people of any place; the community or commonalty; spec. the body of free burgesses of a free town or burgh; sometimes, the commonwealth or state, as a collective entity. (L. commune, Gr. τὸ κοινόν.) Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 10388 (Cott.) Þis hundret scepe..Til al þe comun war þai delt. c 1302 Pol. Songs (1839) 188 The Kyng of Fraunce made statuz newe..That the commun of Bruges ful sore con a-rewe. c 1350 Usages of Winchester in Eng. Gilds 350 Þe Meyre and þe foure and twenty..sholle chese fowre gode men. And þe commune, of þes foure, chese þe tweyne afore y-sayd. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 223 Whyle þe comynge of Rome were in her floures [dum respublica floruit]. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. vi. 187 In heuene an hy was an holy comune. 1646 J. Gregory Notes & Observ. (1650) 44 That solemne confluence of Heathen Saints then gathered together, ἐκ πάσης τῆς ἀσίας, out of the whole Common of Asia. Ibid. 49 The Celebration of these Games in this or that City of the Common. |
† 2. The common people, as distinguished from those of rank or dignity; the commonalty. Often viewed politically as an estate of the realm, = the commons, q.v. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 236 (Gött.) Þis ilke boke es translate..For þe comen [v.r. commun, commune, comune folk] to vnþerstand. 1382 Wyclif Ex. xii. 38 And the comoun of either sex vnnoumbrable steyden vp with hem. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 39 So that the comun with the lorde And lord with the comun also He sette in love bothe two. c 1470 Henry Wallace xi. 1280 Befor king and commoun. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxix. (1887) 197. The common is deuided into marchauntes and manuaries. 1607 Shakes. Cor. i. i. 154 Touching the Weale a' th' Common. 1663 Gerbier Counsel B viij a, Knowledge in the hands of the Comon is silver, in those of a noble person it is gold. |
† 3. three commons (Sc.), the (three) Estates of the Realm. Obs.
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ix. ix. 11 Wyth þe assent of þe thre comounys, Byschopis, Burgens, and Barowyns, Ðe Erle of Fyfe wes made Wardayne. |
† 4. Communion: abstr. fellowship; concr. a fellowship of persons, a community. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 10492 (Cott.) Vte o kyrc and comun Am i don, and for cursd teld. Ibid. 12244 Me-thinc..Þat he wit[h] man has na commun. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 26 Wan men cursun man..or bannun him, or puttun him out of comyn. a 1631 Donne 6 Serm. iv. (1634) 17 Though he walk..in the outward common and fellowship of Gods saints. |
5. a. A common land or estate; the undivided land belonging to the members of a local community as a whole. Hence, often, the patch of unenclosed or ‘waste’ land which remains to represent that. Formerly often commons = L. commūnia.
| 1479 Bury Wills (1850) 53 The northe hede abbuttyth vppon the comown of Euston. 1483 Cath. Angl. 73 A Common, communia. 1550 Crowley Way to Wealth 74 They reyse our rentes..they enclose oure commens! 1557 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 163 b, They are kept in Marshes, Fennes, Lakes, and Moorishe commons. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. 49 a, In the country the Gentleman takes in the Commons, racketh his Tennaunts, etc. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iv. i. 27 Turne him off (Like to the empty Asse) to shake his eares, And graze in Commons. 1641 Hinde J. Bruen xix. 61 [Some] deale no better with their impotent and old servants than to turne them off their hands to live on a Commons or dye in a ditch. 1759 Johnson Idler No. 67 ¶7 Papers, about inclosing a common upon his estate. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 307 If to some common's fenceless limits, stray'd..even the bareworn common is deny'd. 1872 E. W. Robertson Hist. Ess. 246 In England, we are now accustomed to give the name of ‘Common’ to a tract of uncultivated waste land alone, but at a comparatively recent period the name, as opposed to ‘Close’, still continued to be applied to fields, pastures, meadows, and indeed to every description of land held in joint-occupation and not in ‘the lord's domain’; whilst the Common of modern days was known as ‘the Heath’, or ‘the Waste’. |
b. fig.
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. ii. i. 223 Boy. So you grant pasture for me. La. Not so gentle beast. My lips are no Common, though seuerall they be. c 1665 Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson 6 God having as it were enclosed a people here, out of the waste common of the world. 1855 Singleton Virgil I. Pref. 6 There is a common of language to which both poetry and prose have the freest access. |
6. Law. (Also right of common, common right.) The profit which a man has in the land or waters of another; as that of pasturing cattle (common of pasture), of fishing (common of piscary), of digging turf (common of turbary), and of cutting wood for fire or repairs (common of estovers); = commonage, commonty.
Also distinguished as common appendant, c. appurtenant, c. in gross, c. because of vicinage, c. of shack, etc.
| c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 69 Alle othere manere yiftes hardily, As londes, rentes, pasture, or comune. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 2 It is at the lordes pleasure to enclose them..so that no nother man haue commyn therin. Ibid. 5–6 Commen appendaunt, commen appurtenaunte, commen in grose, commen per cause de vicynage. 1658 Cleveland Rustick Ramp. Wks. (1687) 462 Commune of Pasture and Fishing, expressed in the said Charters. 1711 Lond. Gaz. No. 4880/3 Ford Farm..with right of Common in a large Common. 1711 Ibid. No. 4927/4 Well Wooded and Timber'd, with Commons for 24 Cows and a Bull. 1724 Ibid. No. 6246/2 One half quarter of Yard-Land..with Common of Pasture thereto belonging. a 1845 Hood Sniffing a Birthday iii, Not common-right for goose or ass. 1853 Lytton My Novel ii. ii, The poor have a right of common, I suppose. |
† 7. The common fund, stock, or purse. [So Fr. commun.] Obs.
| 1540 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 290 Fyve l. of the common of the church. 1548 Udall, etc. tr. Erasm. Par. Acts 13 b, But the distribucion of the common was made to euery man, according to his necessitie. 1670 Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 316 So he [Charles II] is resolved once more to have money enough in his pocket, and live on the common for the future. [Cf. F. vivre sur le commun, ‘vivre aux frais d'une société, sans rien faire’ (Littré).] |
† 8. ? = commons; share of a common table; board; rations. Obs.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 528 Ech clerc..hem ȝef..As muche as he in the wouke in is commune spende. c 1650 R. Brathwait Barnabees Jrnl. (1818) 19, I drunk and took my common In a taphouse, with my woman. |
† 9. = Common woman, prostitute. Obs.
| [c 1300 K. Alis. 2506 And damoselis to garsounes, Ther was mad al comunes.] c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 680 And of that wiif made a comoun To don alle his volunte. |
10. Eccl. [L. commune, F. commun.] A service common to a class of festivals. (Opposed to proper.)
| [c 1400 Table of Lessons, etc. in Wyclif's Bible IV. 683 First ben sett sondaies and ferials togider, and after that the sanctorum, bothe comyn and propre togider, of al the ȝeer. Ibid. IV. 696 Here endith the Propre Sanctorum, and now bigynneth the Commoun Sanctorum.] 1874 Breviary Offices vi, But when we arrive at the Common and Proper of Saints, Sarum shines no more. 1890 J. T. Fowler in Castle Hd. MS. Life St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 30 note, The Common of a confessor and bishop. |
† 11. A combination, mixture. Obs.
| 1618 Bolton Florus iv. ii. (1636) 263 A certaine common of all together. |
12. quasi-n. the common. a. That which is common or ordinary. Esp. in above, beyond, out of the common.
| 1607 Shakes. Cor. iv. i. 32 Your Sonne Will or exceed the Common, or be caught With cautelous baits and practice. 1742 H. Walpole Lett. Mann, Beyond the common. 1762–71 ― Vertue's Anecd. Paint. IV. 161 A man above the common. 1803 Pic Nic No. 1 (1806) I. 32 They are a something beyond common. 1836 Emerson Nature, Prospects Wks. (Bohn) II. 172 To see the miraculous in the common. 1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 292 Forethought which was quite out of the common with them. |
b. The vulgar tongue. rare.
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. v. i. 54 This female: which in the common, is woman. |
13. in common. † a. In general, generally. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 242 (Gött.) Of ingland þe nacione..Er englijs men in comune. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 358 Loue þi lorde god leuest aboue alle, And after, alle crystene creatures in comune, eche man other. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1823 For wommen, as to speken in comune, Thei folwen all þe fauour of fortune. 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. clxvii. No necessitee Was in the hevin at his natiuitee, Bot ȝit the thingis happin in commune Efter purpose. |
b. Ordinarily, usually, commonly.
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 393 Allas, why pleynen folk so in commune Of ffortune. 1853 Lytton My Novel ii. iv, A patent cork-screw, too good to be used in common. |
† c. In public, openly. Obs.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xi. 484 The king..bad thame in-to commoune say, That thai [the foe] com in-till euill aray. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 211 Cryst to a comune woman seyde in comune at a feste Þat fides sua shulde sauen hir. |
d. In joint use or possession; to be held or enjoyed equally by a number of persons.
| 1382 Wyclif Acts ii. 44 Alle men that bileuyden..hadden alle thingis comyn [MSS. QX in comoun]. c 1400 Rom. Rose 5209 Whanne wille and goodis ben in comune. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 14 They..had no property, but all was in commune. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. ii. 74 All the Realme shall be in Common. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 50 Friends have all things in common. |
e. Law. tenants in common: ‘such as hold by several and distinct titles, but by unity of possession’. So tenancy, estate, etc., in common.
| 1590 Swinburne Testaments 84 All..persons.. seized in fee-simple, in copercenarie, or in common in fee-simple. 1650 B. Discollim. 23 Coparceners, Joyn-tenants, or Tenants in common. 1690 Locke Govt. ii. v. §26 The wild Indian, who knows no Inclosure, and is still a Tenant in common. 1765–9 Blackstone (T.), Estates may be held..in severalty, in joint tenancy, in coparcenary, and in common. |
† f. In general, as a general conception or ‘universal’. Obs.
| 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. (Arb.) 105 Furtheremore they were neuer yet hable to fynde out the seconde intentions: insomuche that none of them all coulde euer see man himselfe in commen, as they cal him. |
g. In union, in communion, in a community.
| 1609 Bible (Douay) Susanna i. 14 Then in commune they appoynted a time. 1859 Jephson Brittany iii. 32 The monks, having become weary of the life in common. |
h. Said of participation in attributes, characteristics, actions, etc. Esp. in phr. to have in (formerly of) common (with).
| 1657 Earl of Monmouth tr. Paruta's Pol. Disc. 49 What had the Parthians of common with the Commonwealth of Rome? 1705 Arbuthnot Coins (J.), In a work of this nature it is impossible to avoid puerilities, it having that in common with dictionaries, and books of antiquities. 1774 W. Mitford Harmony of Lang. 225 These strange anomalies are not in common to us with our southern neighbours. 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) II. 324 Has many things in common with the preceding species, but is larger. 1796 Burney Mem. Metastasio I. 29 [He] was not only pleased in common with the lovers of poetry, but, etc. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. App. 586 The two stories have nothing in common. |
† 14. to enter common: see commons 3 c. Obs.
| 1640 Bastwick Ld. Bps. iii. C iiij b, The Church of England may enter Common with Rome in her Canons. 1674 Govt. Tongue x. viii. (1684) 158 Let us..not by our unmanly impatiencies enter common with brutes and animals. |
15. Sc. phr. in the common of: in the debt of, under obligations to. † in common with: subject to, in the power of (quot. 1423). † to quite one a common: to settle accounts with him, pay him off. (Cf. commons 3 c.)
| 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. cxlix, The more thou art in dangere and commune With hir, that clerkis clepen so fortune. c 1565 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. 24–5 (Jam.) Sir George Douglas..not willing to be in an English-man's commoun for an evil turn, gathered a company of chosen men, and burnt the town of Alnwick. a 1572 Knox Hist. Ref. 202 (Jam.) It micht be that he sould quite him a comoun ather in Scotland, or ellis in France. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1881) 220 Ye are in no man's common but Christ's. 18.. Sc. Prov. (Jam.), ‘I am as little in your common, as you are in mine.’ 1879 Jamieson s.v. Common, A thing is said to be good one's common, when one is under great obligations to do it; to be ill one's common, when one, from the peculiar obligations one lies under, ought to act a very different part. |
16. Ellipt. for common sense. slang.
| 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands i. 8 Do 'ave er bit iv common. 1936 J. Curtis Gilt Kid xvii. 175 Use a bit of common. 1946 B. Marshall George Brown's Schooldays 155 All it wants is a little intelligence or nous as the poets say or common or garden common. 1960 H. Pinter Dumb Waiter 16 You mutt... Have a bit of common. They got departments for everything. |
▪ III. † common, n.2 Obs.
= commune n.2, communing, conference, discourse.
| 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 1557 Your speche is as pleasant as though it were pend; To here your comon, it is my high comforte. |
▪ IV. † common, v. Obs.
(ˈkɒmən)
Forms: 3–4 co(m)mun, 4–5 comoun(e, -one, -own(e, 4–6 comon, (5 pa. tense comaunde), 5 commoun, 5–8 common. Also, 4–5 comin, 4–6 comen, -yn(e, commin, 5–6 commyn, -en; pa. tense and pple. 5 comynd, comynt, comend, commynd, etc.
[ME. comune-n, comone-n, a. OF. comune-r (in AF. also comone-r) to make common, impart, share, f. comun common a. The shifting stress in OF. comuˈner, coˈmune (:—L. types commūˈnāre, coˈmmūnat), was reflected in ME. by the two forms ˈcomun and coˈmune found side by side from the earliest times. The former became the more popular in ME., and was written co(m)mun, -on, -oun, -en, -yn, -in, and finally like the adj., common; it survived in some senses down to the 18th c. But the earlier senses mostly became obs. in the 16th c., with the exception of that of ‘hold converse’; and here the form commune, which, though less usual in ME., had never become obsolete, now came to the front, being supported by the n. communion, etc. Common and commune are thus only developments of the same word; but as they became very distinct in form, and their sense-history is not quite identical, common having taken from the cognate n. and adj. some senses in which commune is never used, they are dealt with as distinct words.]
I. Senses in which common was the prevalent form: now quite obsolete.
1. trans. To make common to others with oneself; to communicate, impart (to), share (with).
| c 1380 [see commoning vbl. n. 1]. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. xxi. (1495) 333 Sterres comynen and parte eche wyth other theyr lyghte. Ibid. xviii. xxvii. 788 A hounde comyneth not ne yeuyth flesshe..that he maye not deuour to other houndes. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) vii. xxiv. 312/2 Not to hyde them but to comyne them forth to profyte of other. 1538 Starkey England i. i. (1871) 2 To commyn such gyftys as be to them gyuen, ych one to the profyt of other. Ibid. 8 He commynyth hys gudnes to al creaturys. |
2. To communicate (verbally), tell, declare, publish, report.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 19 Such as I haue..i-rad in dyuerse bookes, I gadere and write..and comoun to oþere men. 1460–70 Bk. Quintessence i. 3 Comounne ȝe not þis book of deuyne secretes to wickid men. 1548 Udall, etc. tr. Erasm. Par. John 58 a, After these thynges were commoned to and fro from one to an other, etc. |
b. absol. or intr.
| [1494 cf. commoning vbl. n. 2.] 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 181 The commons common so: tys commonly sayde. |
3. intr. To take a part in common with others; to participate, partake, share with, in.
| 1388 Wyclif 1 Pet. iv. 13 Comyne ȝe with the passiouns of Crist. a 1440 Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. (1867) 3 Cristene folke þat commons to-gedire in þe sacrementes. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iv. v. 206 Laertes, I must common with your greefe. |
4. To have intercourse; to associate with.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 29331 (Cott.) To comun noght wit cursed men. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 140 For foule meselrie he comond with no man. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour Prol. 2 My felawes comened with ladies and gentil women. 1555 Fardle Facions ii. iii. 128 That who so was diseased with any malady, should comon with other that had bene healed of the like. |
b. Of sexual intercourse.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. (MS. A) lf. 125 b, Þer folowiþ a litil wilnyng for to comoun [desiderium coitus] wiþ wymmen. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. 7 Aftir tyme Cayn had killid Abel..Adam mad a vow that he schuld nevir..comoun with Eve; and his continens kept he a hundred ȝeres. |
5. To have points in common; to agree. rare.
| c 1400 Apol. Loll. 73 As þey comoun to þe law of þe gospel. Ibid. 74 Comonning mikil wiþ law cyuil. |
II. Senses afterwards expressed by commune.
6. intr. To confer, converse, talk (with, together); = commune v. 6.
| 1388 Wyclif Ecclus. xxvi. 9 Sche comyneth with all men. c 1400 Destr. Troy 12046 Þes kynges in counsell were comynyng to-gedur. 1488 Caxton Chast. Goddes Chyld. 22 Gladly they will speke and comyn. 1490 ― Eneydos vi. (1890) 26 She comened wyth the prynces of the same contrey. 1535 Coverdale Ps. iv. 4 Comon with youre owne hertes vpon youre beddes. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 477 Kepyng the barres shut, eche might see and common with other at their pleasure. 1581 Savile Tacitus' Hist. i. xv. (1591) 10 We two..common [loquimur] plainly ogether. |
b. Const. of, upon (the matter discussed).
| 1461 Paston Lett. No. 400 II. 26, I spake with Maister John Salet, and commonyd with hym of hyr. 1479 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 425 To commen..with the housholders of Brewers vpon a wise prouision to be made. 1579 Fenton Guicciard. i. (1599) 17 The practises..commoned vpon..betweene the Pope and him. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. ix. 4 And by the way..of sundry things did commen. |
c. with dependent clause.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 325/2 He comened with them how..he myght departe. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 532 Which..began to common amongest themselves, howe they might render the towne, to their most honour and profite. |
7. trans. To talk over in common, confer about, discuss, debate; to converse about, talk of.
| c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xvii. (1885) 150 Þat his entente therin be comened with his counsell. 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. (1584) 69 It were very wel, the affayres of warres should be commoned of many, but the resolution of them to bee used with fewe. 1607 J. King Serm. Nov. 20 To common it [this scripture] in priuate with their owne spirits. |
b. To come to a common decision, agree (that).
| c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 89 Than comyned thei al there That Generides saued were. |
8. trans. To administer the Communion to; refl. and pass. to receive the Communion, communicate. (See commune v. 8.) [Cf. also F. communier:—L. commūnicāre.]
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Egipciane 1230 Scho..of his hand syne commonyt was. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxi. 139 We schrafe vs clene and herd messe and comound vs. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 251/1 Ypolyte..commyned them with the Sacrament of the aulter. c 1500 in Maskell Mon. Rit. (1847) III. 348 No man nother woman that this day proposyth here to be comenyd. |
III. Later senses derived from common, (-s,) n. or adj. (Not found with commune.)
9. intr. To exercise or enjoy a right of common: see common n. 6.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 5 Where they and other commen togyder. c 1640 J. Smyth Lives Berkeleys (1883) I. 203 Howe farr the sayd Abbot and his Tenants should Comon, and where. 1642 Perkins Prof. Bk. i. §108. 48 If common of pasture be granted unto me for my cattell I shall not common but with cattell commonable. 1697 View Penal Laws 252 The Commoners shall be excluded for Commoning therein; so also shall the Lord be debarred to common in the residue. |
10. To eat at a common table, to board together.
| 1598 Florio, Dozzenare, to boord or common in companie. a 1677 Barrow Serm. I. xxx. 415. 1684 [see commoning vbl. n. 8]. 1766 Entick London IV. 30 The reason for the name of Doctors Commons is because the civilians in this place common together. |
b. trans. To board (at a common table). rare.
| 1598 Florio, Tener dozzena, to boord or common schollers at meate and drinke, to keepe an ordinarie. |
11. To make common (what is sanctified).
| 1621 W. Sclater Tythes (1623) 50 Nothing sanctified may euer be commoned. ― Ibid. 45. |