commons

See also: Commons

English

Pronunciation

  • (General American) enPR: kŏmʹənz, IPA(key): /ˈkɑmənz/
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kŏmʹənz, IPA(key): /ˈkɒmənz/
  • Hyphenation: com‧mons
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

commons

  1. plural of common

Noun

commons sg or pl

  1. (usually singular in construction) A public area, especially a dining hall, at a college or university; a similar shared space elsewhere.
  2. (usually singular in construction) A common (common land); especially, a central section of (usually an older) town, designated as a shared area.
    The Renaissance festival started with the "peasants" meeting in the commons.
    The commons is the green space surrounded by the village hall, the school, and the church.
    The commons of New England towns are important contributors to their charm.
  3. (figuratively) The mutual good of all; the abstract concept of resources shared by more than one, for example air, water, information.
    Synonym: res communis
    "The tragedy of the commons" is that none wish to make sacrifices of their or their family's interests for the common good.
  4. The common people collectively, the third estate, the people not belonging to the nobility or clergy.
    Synonym: commoners
    • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene i:
      We in the name of other Perſean ſtates [i.e. nobles],
      And commons of this mightie Monarchy,
      Preſent thee with the Emperiall Diadem.
  5. (chiefly historical) The free burghers/bourgeoisie of a given town, taken collectively.
  6. (euphemistic, obsolete) An outhouse.
    Synonyms: common house, House of Commons; see also Thesaurus:outhouse
  7. (obsolete, UK, Oxford University) Food served at a fixed rate from the college buttery, distinguished from battels.
    • 1875, Walter Bradford Woodgate, "Oars and Sculls," and How to Use Them (page 125)
      At the same time, the fashion at Oxford of confining lunch to a "commons" of bread and butter and a glass of beer till the crew reaches Putney (when a little meat is allowed,) is unreasonable.
  8. Food in general; rations.
    short commons
    • 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 357:
      Without eggs, cocoa-nuts, or plantains, we had very short commons, and the boisterous weather being unpropitious for fishing, we had to live on what few eatable birds we could shoot, with an occasional cuscus, or eastern opossum, the only quadruped, except pigs, inhabiting the island.

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

commons

  1. third-person singular simple present indicative of common

References

Further reading

French

Verb

commons

  1. inflection of commer:
    1. first-person plural present indicative
    2. first-person plural imperative
This page is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.