[f. COMMUNE v. + -ER1.]
† 1. Obs. form of COMMONER, q.v.
† 2. A partaker with another or others; a sharer.
c. 1400. Thornton MS., 213 b. Communers of þat blyse.
c. 1550. Cheke, Matt. xxiii. 29. We wold not have been communers with yem.
3. One who partakes of the Lord’s Supper.
1548. Gest, Pr. Masse, 105. The Kynge … presenteth at his Supper to al us his communers, bothe bread and wyne.
1550. [see COMMUNE 8 b].
4. One who communes or converses with another. rare.
In mod. Dicts.
5. A member or citizen of a commune (in reference to foreign countries). [F. communier.]
1886. Science (N. Y.), VIII. 593. The popular school is to be maintained by the Gemeinde or commune, and the communers have not in general found themselves able to forego the income from school fees.
