commix, v.
(kəˈmɪks)
Forms: 5–6 co(m)myx, -ix(e, 6– commix.
[The pa. pple. commixt, comyxt, is found in 15th c. (along with the n. commixtion, commixion); the present stem commix appears a good deal later. As the same relative order is found in the case of admixt, admix, mixt, mix (the last being the latest of all), the inference is that the L. pples. commixt-us, admixt-us, mixt-us were first adopted as commixt, admixt, mixt, and that the final -t was then taken to be the native ppl. ending, as in kis-t (cust), and commix, etc. thus assumed as the stem. See more fully s.v. mix.]
1. trans. To mix or mingle together; to blend. Now arch. or poet.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 567 Figges grounde Comyxt with flour. 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. v. iv. in Ashm. (1652) 149 Elements comyxt and wysely coequat. 1570 Dee Math. Pref. 9 The Quantities of two thinges Commixt. 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 32 Cotes commixt with two of the honorable Ordinaries. 1607 Topsell Serpents (1653) 615 Commixe the ashes of a Serpent with..the seeds of Fenugreek. 1610 P. Barrough Meth. Physick iii. v. (1639) 106 You may commix with the said things verjuyce. 1703 Art & Myst. Vintners & Wine-Coopers 12 Beat them till they be throughly commix'd. 1709 Hearne Collect. 5 Dec. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) II. 321 Tin and lead commixt. 1772 Jackson Isinglass in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 6 Commixing three spoonfuls with a gallon of malt liquor. 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 178 Gore with foam commixed. |
b. of things immaterial.
| 1596 Edward III, iv. iii. 54 Profit must with honour be commix'd. 1601 Cornwallyes Ess. ii. xxxi. (1631) 56 This so sweetly commixeth her defects with those thoughts of liking. 1665 J. Webb Stone-Heng (1725) 219 They commixt set Forms..in one and the same Temple. 1674 Playford Skill Mus. i. 59 This Mood that is so commixt with fancy and airy reports. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1818) I. 134 He will confound and commix all things spiritual and temporal. 1859 Fonblanque Life & Labours (1874) 537 The squeaking and grunting commixed of a herd of swine. |
† c. of persons. Obs.
| 1621 Ainsworth Annot. Pentat. Deut. xxiii. 8 They..might enter into the congregation and bee commixed with them. 1659 Evelyn Misc. Writ. (1805) 117 Lest..a certain impure..rabble enter, and commix themselves with our citizens. a 1688 Bunyan Confess. Faith Wks. 62 The sons of God commixing themselves with the daughters of men. |
2. To intermix, mix up; to intersperse.
| 1592 No-body & Some-b. (1878) 299 We will not have a Clawbacks hand comixt With such heroick peeres. 1847 H. Miller First Impr. vi. (1857) 102 With these [fields] are commixed innumerable cottages. |
3. intr. (for refl.)
| 1519 Four Elements in Hazl. Dodsley I. 11 These elements..commix together daily. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iv. ii. 55 The Smile, mocking the Sigh, that it would flye From so diuine a Temple, to commix With windes. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low-C. Warres 960 Such as through greediness of booty, drew upon them ruine by commixing with the burning Ship. 1675 Penn Eng. Pres. Interest Discov. 52 They will commix as Iron and Clay. 1776 G. Campbell Philos. Rhetoric I. 252 So far is this pleasure from commixing with the pathos. 1845 Clough Early Poems xiv. 9 Oh, with mine commixing I thy breath of life shall feel. |
† 4. intr. To copulate. Obs.
| 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 561 The women with whome they [Devills] comixe. 1661 Rowley Thrac. Wonder iv. i, Curses the man she did commix withal. |