▪ I. coˈmmence, n. unusual.
[f. following vb.]
A beginning.
| 1794 Southey in Life (1849) I. 222 Here's a pretty commence! 1804 J. Kenney Matrimony ii. i, Here's a pretty commence! 1808 W. B. Hewetson Blind Boy i. i, I'll make a commence with some pretty genteel sort of compliment. |
▪ II. commence, v.
(kəˈmɛns)
Forms: 4 comence, com(m)enci, 5 comens, 5–7 commense, 4– commence. Also ME. syncopated form comse, cumse.
[ME. comence, a. OF. cumencer, comencer, = Pr. comensar, -char, Sp. comenzar, Pg. come{cced}ar, It. cominciare, OIt. comenzar:—late Lat. type *cominitiāre (whence comintiāre, cominzāre), f. com- intensive + initiāre to begin (in Milanese inzà): see initiate. The doubling of the m in mod.F. and English is etymologically erroneous. Already in the 12th c. it was construed in OF. as trans., intr., and with à, and so it appears in Eng. from the first. The word is precisely equivalent to the native begin (which was however originally intr.); begin is preferred in ordinary use; commence has more formal associations with law and procedure, combat, divine service, and ceremonial, in which it continues earlier Anglo-French use.]
1. trans. To begin (an action); to enter upon; esp. in legal use, to commence an action, commence a suit, commence proceedings, etc.
| 1314 Guy Warw. (A.) 2008 Þat fiȝt he wil comenci. 15.. New Not-broune Mayd, But I commence Afore clemence, For man myne accyon. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. i. 4 New broils To be commenc'd in Stronds a-farre remote. 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 151 (R.) All actions which may or shall be commenced by occasion of the sayd goods arrested. 1696 Tate & Brady Ps. civ. 23 Commencing with the Sun his Toil. 1814 Southey Roderick viii, Commencing his adventurous flight. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 160 In May, the proceedings were commenced. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. xi. 291 On the following morning we commenced the ascent of Mont Blanc. |
b. with vbl. n. in -ing.
| 1797 Coleridge Biog. Lit. (1847) II. 314 He commenced being a severe and ardent student. 1850 D. G. Mitchell Reveries of a Bachelor 159, I commence crying aloud. a 1873 Mill Autobiog. 9, I commenced learning Latin. |
c. with ordinary object (before which some vbl. n. may be supplied).
| 1765 T. Amory Mem. (1769) II. 75 That she may commence the joy of angels and of blessed spirits beforehand. 1873 Newman in H. W. Wilberforce Ch. & Emp. (1874) 6 He alse took measures for commencing a new church at Lower Walmer. |
2. intr. with inf. To begin to do anything [OF. cumencer à].
| c 1320 Orfeo 247 Thei it commenci to snewe and frese. c 1325 Lai le Freine 264 And comenced to loue hir anon⁓right. 1742 Pope Dunc. iv. 155 To ask, to guess, to know, as they commence, As Fancy opens the quick springs of Sense. 1817 W. Beloe Sexagenarian I. 161. 1824 Landor Wks. (1853) I. 146 The barbarians have commenced..to furbish their professions and vocations with rather whimsical skirts and linings. 1842 F. E. Paget Milford Malvoisin 129. 1858 Sat. Rev. V. 270/2 The landholders..commenced to plunder indiscriminately. 1859 Ibid. VIII. 315/2. 1868 Helps Realmah i. (1876) 3 And now I shall commence to tell who I am. 1871 Lytton Coming Race (ed. 6) 139 Commenced to exist. 1875 Jevons Money 48 The Russian government..commenced to coin it. |
¶ This construction has been objected to by stylists, who prefer begin before to.
| cf. 1862 Marsh Eng. Lang. viii. 127. 1873 F. Hall Mod. Eng. 215. 1876 C. M. Yonge Womankind vi. 40. |
3. intr. To make a start or beginning; to come into operation.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 986 Þan comencede a batail newe by⁓twene þes hostes two. 1599 Shakes. Phœnix & Turtle 21 Here the anthem doth commence. 1697 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 217 The act for regulating priviledg'd places being to commence the 1st of May. 1742 Pope Dunc. iv. 63 But soon, ah soon, Rebellion will commence, If Music meanly borrows aid from Sense. 1839 Keightley Hist. Eng. II. 66 Hostilities were now to commence. 1876 Green Short Hist. ii. 106 The fabric of our judicial legislation commences with the Assize of Clarendon. |
b. with complement, expressing vocation, status, etc.: To begin to be or with being; to start or set up as; to become. arch. (Cf. the complemental construction with 4, which may be earlier.)
| 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. (1841) 99 Young scholars..commence schoolmasters in the country. 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 10 Any man may commence Heretique per saltum. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Akenside, He first commenced physician at Northampton. 1834–47 Southey Doctor (1849) 33/2 The time..when pig is to commence bacon. 1873 F. Hall Mod. Eng. 103 It is far too common, now-a-days, for young men, directly on being made free of a magazine, or of a newspaper, to commence word-coiners. 1883 A. Dobson Fielding 5 Who had already commenced poet as an Eton boy. [For additional quots. and references see F. Hall Rec. Exemplif. False Philol. (1872) 38–39.] |
c. with adj. complement. Also of things. ? Obs.
| 1710 Steele Tatler No. 187 ¶1 We are still at a Loss how we afterwards commence eternal. 1771 Wesley Wks. (1872) VI. 28 The wandering thoughts..then commence sinful. c 1772 J. Fletcher Fifth Check Wks. 1795 III. 266 When faith gives over working..it commences a dead faith. a 1800 W. Jones Theol. & Misc. Wks. I. 145 He, too, is thence⁓forward to commence infallible. |
4. [transl. med.L. incipere.] To take the full degree of Master or Doctor in any faculty at a University. Often with complement, to commence M.A., etc. (See also incept, licentiate.)
(At Cambridge, sometimes used of Bachelors, and in the sense of ‘to be admitted to the title of the degree after passing the examination, and before inauguration’.)
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 259 By a statute of the universite of Oxenford whan eny man is i-congyed þere to commence in eny faculte. 1388 Wyclif Prol. xiii. 51 He..that hath comensid in art, and hath ben regent tweyne ȝeer aftir. 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 2 This is mi year to commens master of art. c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon §68 (1810) 65 He..read Aristotle in the University of Cambridge, where he commenced doctor. 1654 S. Ashe Fun. Serm. (1656) 50 Having commenced Bachelor of Arts. 1660 Gauden Brownrig 156 The University thought itself did then commence when Mr. or Dr. Brownrig was invested with any degree of honour. 1682 Vernon Life Heylyn 57 In which year Mr. Heylyn commenc'd his Degree of Doctor in Divinity. 1714 R. Long in J. W. Clark Cambridge (1890) 81 To rig ourselves out, in order to see the Doctors commence. 1731 T. Cox Magna Brit. VI. 225/2 Wadham College..where he commenced Master of Arts. 1775 Johnson West. Isl., Aberdeen, Whoever is a master may, if he pleases, immediately commence doctor. 1830 Bp. Monk Bentley (1833) I. 10 Bentley commenced Bachelor of Arts. |
† b. trans. To admit to a degree. Also absol.
| 1567 R. Mulcaster Fortescue's De Laud. Leg. (1572) 109 Why in the same [i.e. English law] none are commenced Bachelors and Doctors, as in other faculties. 1588 R. Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 95 To commence or graduate such students as haue finished their course. Ibid. 97 The day appointed..for to commence or giue degrees. |
c. fig.
| c 1430 Freemasonry 556 Throȝgh hye grace of Crist yn heven, He commensed yn the syens seven. 1579 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. iii. 125 Learning [is] a meere Hoord of Gold..till Sack commences it, and sets it in act and vse. a 1625 Fletcher Elder Brother i. ii, Come, doctor Andrew, without disputation, Thou shalt commence i' th' cellar. 1660 C. Ellis Gentile Sinner (1672) 225 (T.) Many of our English gentlemen do thus commence, as it were, and take degrees in ignorance and vanity. |
† 5. to commence to, into: to begin to grow or develop to or into. Also b. trans. Obs.
| a 1500 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 280 To the honoure of Ectour that he myȝte comens. 1661 Glanvill Van. Dogm. 74 It may be well reckon'd among the bare Possibilities which never commence into a Futurity. 1681 Whole Duty Nations 20 He founds his Worship..first in Abrahams Family, and from thence commences it into a National State. |