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. ʓemǽne, in same sense. The ME. repr. of the latter, IMENE, was superseded by the Fr. comun; the accentuation comu·n 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 co·mun, whence co·myn, co·min, co·men, and the modern pronunciation. Chaucer and Gower have both; comu·n(e being usual at the end of a line.]
I. Of general, public, or non-private nature.
1. ‘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 sb. 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.
1607. Bp. Hall, Medit. & Vows, II. 82. The weakest Christian may, by plaine information, see somewhat into the greatest mysteries of Nature; because he hath the eye of reason common with the best.
1659. 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. Ht. 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.
1781. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 140. Not to enjoy ye 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 cooperation, 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 sb. 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 Lawe’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. 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. Shaks., 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. Ibid. (1714), 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 that translate or represent L. res publica, as † common good, profit, thing, 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. Ibid. (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. If they were brought backe thereto, and strictly kept therein, then the swifter their course, the sooner, and 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, its rich.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., II. iii. 5. Doe me the common right To let me see them.
8. 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. Shaks., 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. Shaks., 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. Ibid. (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, common lodging-house, 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.
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 great gamster, a ristour, a spendthrift, a drinker, a common-ale-house haunter, and whoore-hunter, and, to conclude, giuen to all vice and naughtinesse.
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.
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.
7. That is matter of public talk or knowledge, generally known. Common bruit, fame, etc.: popular rumor 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. Shaks., John, IV. ii. 187. Yong Arthurs death is common in their mouths. Ibid. (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 offenses; as common barrator, scold, 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 wyþ outë shryfte shul deye.
1340. Ayenb., 37. Þe þyer 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. 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. Shaks., 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. 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. Shaks., 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 (1747), Author’s Apol. p. x. The commonest reader will find, there is not the least resemblance between the two Stories.
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,… 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. 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. Shaks., 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, laborer, 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.
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. 499. 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 that belongs equally to two or more quantities; as in common denominator, divisor, factor, measure, multiple; common difference, 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. & Logic. a. Common noun, substantive, name, term: a name applicable to each of the individuals or species that 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. Shaks., 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.
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.
1881. Roby, Lat. Gramm. (ed. 4), I. § 281. In Nominatives of Proper names with consonant stems ē is common. Ibid., § 287. In Dĭana and ŏhē 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 that has a joint relation to several distinct parts, as common calyx, perianth, petiole, 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, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 134. In Phanerogams … the whole [fibro-vascular] bundle is a ‘common’ one, i. e. common to both stem and leaves.
** Technical uses from II.
19. Mus. Common chord: see CHORD sb.2 3. Common time (or measure), time or rhythm consisting of two or four beats in a bar; esp. applied to 4–4 time (4 crotchets in a bar).
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 meter: 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 sb. 2 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 sb. † Common fine: see quot. † Common intendment: see INTENDMENT. Common jury: see JURY. Common land: = COMMON sb. † Common person: a person who acts for or represents another; a number: see PERSON. Common recovery: see RECOVERY. Common school (U.S.): a school publicly maintained for elementary education. † Common service: = COMMON PRAYER. † Common side: the side of Newgate where common offenders were imprisoned (opp. to State side). Common tenancy: = tenancy in common (see COMMON sb. 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. Ibid. (1768), III. 287. The defendant … puts in sureties for his future attendance and obedience; which sureties are called common *bail.
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.
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.
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.
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 they year 1776.
1580. J. Fecknam, in Strype, Ann. Ref., I. App. xxxi. The Book of Common *Service, now used in the Church of England.
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.
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, -faced, † -hackneyed, † -kissing, -sized, etc.; in sense 14, common-looking.
1586. Warner, Alb. Eng., II. x. 48. Common-booked Poetrie.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., III. ii. 40. Had I so lauish of my presence beene, So common hackney’d in the eyes of men. Ibid. (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.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 28045 (Cott.). Þai ar funden communest.
1600. Shaks., 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.
