Adjacent Words

Commons definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

COMMONS, n. plu.
1. The common people, who inherit or possess no honors or titles; the vulgar.
2. In England, the lower house of Parliament, consisting of the representatives of cities, boroughs and counties, chosen by men possessed of the property or qualifications required by law. This body is called the House of Commons. The House of Representatives in North Carolina bears the same name.
3. Common grounds; land possessed or used by two or more persons in common.
4. Food provided at a common table, as in colleges, where many persons eat at the same table or in the same hall.
Their commons, though but coarse, were nothing scant.
Doctors Commons, in London, a college founded by Dr. Harvey, for the professors of the civil law, where the civilians common together. The house was consumed in the great fire in 1666, but rebuilt in 1672. To this college belong thirty four proctors.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a piece of open land for recreational use in an urban area; "they went for a walk in the park" [syn: park, commons, common, green]
2: a pasture subject to common use [syn: commons, common land]
3: a class composed of persons lacking clerical or noble rank [syn: commonalty, commonality, commons]
4: the common people [syn: third estate, Commons]

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n.pl. 1 (the Commons) = House of Commons. 2 a the common people. b (prec. by the) the common people regarded as a part of a political, esp. British, system. 3 provisions shared in common; daily fare. Phrases and idioms: short commons insufficient food. Etymology: ME pl. of COMMON

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Commons Com"mons, n. pl., 1. The mass of the people, as distinguished from the titled classes 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 Churchyard 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 a small allowance of food. [Colloq.]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. pl. 1. Commonalty, the common people, untitled class, commoners. 2. Lower house of Parliament, House of Commons. 3. Common-table meals served in common (esp. at colleges). 4. Provisions, food, fare.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

The house of commons; the necessary house.

Moby Thesaurus

C ration, K ration, allotment, allowance, board, bourgeoisie, cafeteria, common, common people, common run, common sort, commonage, commonality, commonalty, commoners, dinette, dining car, dining hall, dining room, dining saloon, emergency rations, field rations, laborers, linendrapers, lower classes, lower middle class, lower orders, lumpen proletariat, meals, mess, mess hall, messroom, middle class, middle orders, ordinary people, paradise, park, peasantry, plain folks, plain people, pleasance, pleasure garden, pleasure ground, proletariat, public park, rank and file, rations, refectory, restaurant, salle a manger, shopkeepers, short commons, small tradesmen, the lower cut, the other half, the third estate, toilers, toiling class, tucker, upper middle class, vulgus, working class, working people