For forms see COMMON a. [In some senses repr. F. commune = med.L. commūna, commūnia (see COMMUNE sb.1); in others repr. the L. word commūne immediately; in others the Eng. adj. taken substantively.]
† 1. The common body of the people of any place; the community or commonalty; spec. the body of free burgesses of a free town or burgh; sometimes, the commonwealth or state, as a collective entity. (L. commune, Gr. τὸ κοινόν.) Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 10388 (Cott.). Þis hundret scepe … Til al þe comun war þai delt.
c. 1302. Pol. Songs (1839), 188. The Kyng of Fraunce made statuz newe … That the commun of Bruges ful sore con a-rewe.
c. 1350. Usages of Winchester, in Eng. Gilds, 350. Þe Meyre and þe foure and twenty … sholle chese fowre gode men. And þe commune, of þes foure, chese þe tweyne afore y-sayd.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 223. Whyle þe comynge of Rome were in her floures [dum respublica floruit].
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. VI. 187. In heuene an hy was an holy comune.
1646. J. Gregory, Notes & Observ. (1650), 44. That solemne confluence of Heathen Saints then gathered together, ἐκ πάσης τῆς Ἀσίας, out of the whole Common of Asia. Ibid., 49. The Celebration of these Games in this or that City of the Common.
† 2. The common people, as distinguished from those of rank or dignity; the commonalty. Often viewed politically as an estate of the realm, = the COMMONS, q.v. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 236 (Gött.). Þis ilke boke es translate … For þe comen [v.r. commun, commune, comune folk] to vnþerstand.
1382. Wyclif, Ex. xii. 38. And the comoun of either sex vnnoumbrable steyden vp with hem.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 39. So that the comun with the lorde And lord with the comun also He sette in love bothe two.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, XI. 1280. Befor king and commoun.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxxix. (1887), 197. The common is deuided into marchauntes and manuaries.
1607. Shaks., Cor., I. i. 154. Touching the Weale a’ th’ Common.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, B viij a. Knowledge in the hands of the Comon is silver, in those of a noble person it is gold.
† 3. Three Commons (Sc.), the (three) Estates of the Realm. Obs.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., IX. ix. 11. Wyth þe assent of þe thre comounys, Byschopis, Burgens, and Barowyns, Ðe Erle of Fyfe wes made Wardayne.
† 4. Communion: abstr. fellowship; concr. a fellowship of persons, a community. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 10492 (Cott.). Vte o kyrc and comun Am i don, and for cursd teld. Ibid., 12244. Me-thinc … Þat he wit[h] man has na commun.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 26. Wan men cursun man … or bannun him, or puttun him out of comyn.
a. 1631. Donne, 6 Serm., iv. (1634), 17. Though he walk ... in the outward common and fellowship of Gods saints.
5. A common land or estate; the undivided land belonging to the members of a local community as a whole. Hence, often, the patch of unenclosed or ‘waste’ land that remains to represent that. Formerly often commons = L. commūnia.
1479. Bury Wills (1850), 53. The northe hede abbuttyth vppon the comown of Euston.
1483. Cath. Angl., 73. A Common, communia.
1550. Crowley, Way to Wealth, 74. They reyse our rentes … they enclose oure commens!
1557. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. (1586), 163 b. They are kept in Marshes, Fennes, Lakes, and Moorishe commons.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s T., 49 a. In the country the Gentleman takes in the Commons, racketh his Tennaunts, etc.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., IV. i. 27. Turne him off (Like to the empty Asse) to shake his eares. And graze in Commons.
1641. Hinde, J. Bruen, xix. 61. [Some] deale no better with their impotent and old servants than to turne them off their hands to live on a Commons or dye in a ditch.
1759. Johnson, Idler, No. 67, ¶ 7. Papers, about inclosing a common upon his estate.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 307. If to some common’s fenceless limits stray’d … even the bare-worn common is deny’d.
1872. E. W. Robertson, Hist. Ess., 246. In England, we are now accustomed to give the name of ‘Common’ to a tract of uncultivated waste land alone, but at a comparatively recent period the name, as opposed to ‘Close,’ still continued to be applied to fields, pastures, meadows, and indeed to every description of land held in joint-occupation and not in ‘the lord’s domain’; whilst the Common of modern days was known as ‘the Heath,’ or ‘the Waste.’
b. fig.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., II. i. 223. Boy. So you grant pasture for me. La. Not so gentle beast. My lips are no Common, though seuerall they be.
1665. Mrs. Hutchinson, Mem. Col. Hutchinson, 6. God having as it were enclosed a people here, out of the waste common of the world.
1855. Singleton, Virgil, I. Pref. 6. There is a common of language to which both poetry and prose have the freest access.
6. Law. (Also right of common, common right.) The profit that a man has in the land or waters of another; as that of pasturing cattle (common of pasture), of fishing (common of piscary), of digging turf (common of turbary), and of cutting wood for fire or repairs (common of estovers); = COMMONAGE, COMMONTY.
Also distinguished as common appendant, c. appurtenant, c. in gross, c. because of vicinage, c. of shack, etc.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Merch. T., 69. Alle othere manere yiftes hardily, As londes, rentes, pasture, or comune.
1523. Fitzherb., Surv., 2. It is at the lordes pleasure to enclose them … so that no nother man haue commyn therin. Ibid., 5–6. Commen appendaunt, commen appurtenaunte, commen in grose, commen per cause de vicynage.
1658. Cleveland, Rustick Ramp., Wks. (1687), 462. Commune of Pasture and Fishing, expressed in the said Charters.
1711. Lond. Gaz., No. 4880/3. Ford Farm … with right of Common in a large Common. Ibid. (1711), No. 4927/4. Well Wooded and Timber’d, with Commons for 24 Cows and a Bull. Ibid. (1724), No. 6246/2. One half quarter of Yard-Land … with Common of Pasture thereto belonging.
a. 1845. Hood, Sniffing a Birthday, iii. Not common-right for goose or ass.
1853. Lytton, My Novel, II. ii. The poor have a right of common, I suppose.
† 7. The common fund, stock, or purse. [So Fr. commun.] Obs.
1540. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 290. Fyve l. of the common of the church.
1548. Udall, etc., trans. Erasm. Par. Acts, 13 b. But the distribucion of the common was made to euery man, according to his necessitie.
1670. Marvell, Corr., Wks. 1872–5, II. 316. So he [Charles II.] is resolved once more to have money enough in his pocket, and live on the common for the future. [Cf. F. vivre sur le commun, ‘vivre aux frais d’une société, sans rien faire’ (Littré).]
† 8. ? = COMMONS; share of a common table; board; rations. Obs.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 528. Ech clerc … hem ȝef … As muche as he in the wouke in is commune spende.
c. 1650. Brathwait, Barnabees Jrnl. (1818), 19. I drunk and took my common In a taphouse, with my woman.
† 9. = Common woman, prostitute. Obs.
[c. 1300. K. Alis., 2506. And damoselis to garsounes, Ther was mad al comunes.]
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 680. And of that wiif made a comoun To don alle his volunte.
10. Eccl. [L. commune, F. commun.] A service common to a class of festivals. (Opposed to proper.)
[c. 1400. Table of Lessons, etc., in Wyclif’s Bible, IV. 683. First ben sett sondaies and ferials togider, and after that the sanctorum, bothe comyn and propre togider, of al the ȝeer. Ibid., IV. 696. Here endith the Propre Sanctorum, and now bigynneth the Commoun Sanctorum.]
1874. Breviary Offices, vi. But when we arrive at the Common and Proper of Saints, Sarum shines no more.
1890. J. T. Fowler, in Castle Hd. MS. Life St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 30, note. The Common of a confessor and bishop.
† 11. A combination, mixture. Obs.
1618. Bolton, Florus, IV. ii. (1636), 263. A certaine common of all together.
12. quasi-sb. The common. a. That which is common or ordinary. Esp. in above, beyond, out of the common.
1607. Shaks., Cor., IV. i. 32. Your Sonne Will or exceed the Common, or be caught With cautelous baits and practice.
1742. H. Walpole, Lett. Mann. Beyond the common. Ibid. (1762–71), Vertue’s Anecd. Paint., IV. 161. A man above the common.
1803. Pic Nic, No. 1 (1806), I. 32. They are a something beyond common.
1836. Emerson, Nature, Prospects, Wks. (Bohn), II. 172. To see the miraculous in the common.
1878. Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 292. Forethought which was quite out of the common with them.
b. The vulgar tongue. rare.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., V. i. 54. This female: which in the common, is woman.
13. In common.
† a. In general, generally. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 242 (Gött.). Or ingland þe nacione … Er englijs men in comune.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 358. Loue þi lorde god leuest aboue alle, And after, alle crystene creatures in comune, eche man other.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1823. For wommen, as to speken in comune, Thei folwen all þe fauour of fortune.
1423. James I., Kingis Q., clxvii. No necessitee Was in the hevin at his natiuitee, Bot ȝit the thingis happin in commune Efter purpose.
b. Ordinarily, usually, commonly.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 393. Allas, why pleynen folk so in commune Of ffortune.
1853. Lytton, My Novel, II. iv. A patent cork-screw, too good to be used in common.
† c. In public, openly. Obs.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XI. 484. The king … bad thame in-to commoune say, That thai [the foe] com in-till euill aray.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XI. 211. Cryst to a comune woman seyde in comune at a feste Þat fides sua shulde sauen hir.
d. In joint use or possession; to be held or enjoyed equally by a number of persons.
1382. Wyclif, Acts ii. 44. Alle men that bileuyden … hadden alle thingis comyn [MSS. QX in comoun].
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 5209. Whanne wille and goodis ben in comune.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 14. They … had no property, but all was in commune.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. ii. 74. All the Realme shall be in Common.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 50. Friends have all things in common.
e. Law. Tenants in common: ‘such as hold by several and distinct titles, but by unity of possession.’ So tenancy, estate, etc., in common.
1590. Swinburne, Testaments, 84. All … persons … seized in fee-simple, in copercenarie, or in common in fee-simple.
1650. B. Discollim., 23. Coparceners, Joyn-tenants, or Tenants in common.
1690. Locke, Govt., II. v. § 26. The wild Indian, who knows no Inclosure, and is still a Tenant in common.
1765–9. Blackstone (T.). Estates may be held … in severalty, in joint tenancy, in coparcenary, and in common.
† f. In general, as a general conception or ‘universal.’ Obs.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop. (Arb.), 105. Furtheremore they were neuer yet hable to fynde out the seconde intentions: insomuche that none of them all coulde euer see man himselfe in commen, as they cal him.
g. In union, in communion, in a community.
1609. Bible (Douay), Susanna i. 14. Then in commune they appoynted a time.
1859. Jephson, Brittany, iii. 32. The monks, having become weary of the life in common.
h. Said of participation in attributes, characteristics, actions, etc. Esp. in phr. to have in (formerly of) common (with).
1657. Earl Monm., trans. Paruta’s Pol. Disc., 49. What had the Parthians of common with the Commonwealth of Rome?
1705. Arbuthnot, Coins (J.). In a work of this nature it is impossible to avoid puerilities, it having that in common with dictionaries, and books of antiquities.
1774. W. Mitford, Harmony of Lang., 225. These strange anomalies are not in common to us with our southern neighbours.
1776. Withering, Brit. Plants (1796), II. 324. Has many things in common with the preceding species, but is larger.
1796. Burney, Mem. Metastasio, I. 29. [He] was not only pleased in common with the lovers of poetry, but, etc.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. App. 586. The two stories have nothing in common.
† 14. To enter common: see COMMONS 3 c. Obs.
1640. Bastwick, Ld. Bps., iii. C iiij b. The Church of England may enter Common with Rome in her Canons.
1674. Govt. Tongue, x. viii. (1684), 158. Let us … not by our unmanly impatiencies enter common with brutes and animals.
15. Sc. phr. In the common of: in the debt of, under obligations to. † In common with: subject to, in the power of (quot. 1423). † To quite one a common: to settle accounts with him, pay him off. (Cf. COMMONS 3 c.)
1423. James I., Kingis Q., cxlix. The more thou art in dangere and commune With hir, that clerkis clepen so fortune.
c. 1565. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot., 24–5 (Jam.). Sir George Douglas … not willing to be in an English-man’s commoun for an evil turn, gathered a company of chosen men, and burnt the town of Alnwick.
a. 1572. Knox, Hist. Ref., 202 (Jam.). It micht be that he sould quite him a comoun ather in Scotland, or ellis in France.
1637. Rutherford, Lett. (1881), 220. Ye are in no man’s common but Christ’s.
18[?]. Sc. Prov. (Jam.). ‘I am as little in your common, as you are in mine.’
1879. Jamieson, s.v. Common, A thing is said to be good one’s common, when one is under great obligations to do it; to be ill one’s common, when one, from the peculiar obligations one lies under, ought to act a very different part.
