Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Common

Com′mon

,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Commoner
;
sup
erl.
Commonest
.]
[OE.
commun
,
comon
, OF.
comun
, F.
commun
, fr. L.
communis
;
com-
+
munis
ready to be of service; cf. Skr.
mi
to make fast, set up, build, Goth.
gamains
common, G.
gemein
, and E.
mean
low, common. Cf.
Immunity
,
Commune
,
Noun.
&
Verb.
]
1.
Belonging or relating equally, or similarly, to more than one;
as, you and I have a
common
interest in the property
.
Though life and sense be
common
to men and brutes.
Sir M. Hale.
2.
Belonging to or shared by, affecting or serving, all the members of a class, considered together; general; public;
as, properties
common
to all plants; the
common
schools; the Book of
Common
Prayer
.
Such actions as the
common
good requireth.
Hooker.
The
common
enemy of man.
Shakespeare
3.
Often met with; usual; frequent; customary.
Grief more than
common
grief.
Shakespeare
4.
Not distinguished or exceptional; inconspicuous; ordinary; plebeian; – often in a depreciatory sense.
The honest, heart-felt enjoyment of
common
life.
W. Irving.
This fact was infamous
And ill beseeming any
common
man,
Much more a knight, a captain and a leader.
Shakespeare
Above the vulgar flight of
common
souls.
A. Murphy.
5.
Profane; polluted.
[Obs.]
What God hath cleansed, that call not thou
common
.
Acts x. 15.
6.
Given to habits of lewdness; prostitute.
A dame who herself was
common
.
L’Estrange.
Syn. – General; public; popular; national; universal; frequent; ordinary; customary; usual; familiar; habitual; vulgar; mean; trite; stale; threadbare; commonplace. See
Mutual
,
Ordinary
,
General
.

Com′mon

,
Noun.
1.
The people; the community.
[Obs.]
“The weal o' the common.”
Shak.
2.
An inclosed or uninclosed tract of ground for pleasure, for pasturage, etc., the use of which belongs to the public; or to a number of persons.
3.
(Law)
The right of taking a profit in the land of another, in common either with the owner or with other persons; – so called from the community of interest which arises between the claimant of the right and the owner of the soil, or between the claimants and other commoners entitled to the same right.
Common appendant
,
a right belonging to the owners or occupiers of arable land to put commonable beasts upon the waste land in the manor where they dwell.
–
Common appurtenant
,
a similar right applying to lands in other manors, or extending to other beasts, besides those which are generally commonable, as hogs.
–
Common because of vicinage
or
Common because of neighborhood
,
the right of the inhabitants of each of two townships, lying contiguous to each other, which have usually intercommoned with one another, to let their beasts stray into the other's fields.
- -
Common in gross
or
Common at large
,
a common annexed to a man's person, being granted to him and his heirs by deed; or it may be claimed by prescriptive right, as by a parson of a church or other corporation sole.
Blackstone.
–
Common of estovers
,
the right of taking wood from another's estate.
–
Common of pasture
,
the right of feeding beasts on the land of another.
Burill.
–
Common of piscary
,
the right of fishing in waters belonging to another.
–
Common of turbary
,
the right of digging turf upon the ground of another.

Com′mon

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To converse together; to discourse; to confer.
[Obs.]
Embassadors were sent upon both parts, and divers means of entreaty were
commoned
of.
Grafton.
2.
To participate.
[Obs.]
Sir T. More.
3.
To have a joint right with others in common ground.
Johnson.
4.
To board together; to eat at a table in common.

Webster 1828 Edition

Common

COMMON

, a.
1.
Belonging equally to more than one, or to many indefinitely; as, life and sense are common to man and beast; the common privileges of citizens; the common wants of men.
2.
Belonging to the public; having no separate owner. The right to a highway is common.
3.
General; serving for the use of all; as the common prayer.
4.
Universal; belonging to all; as, the earth is said to be the common mother of mankind.
5.
Public; general; frequent; as common report.
6.
Usual; ordinary; as the common operations of nature; the common forms of conveyance; the common rules of civility.
7.
Of no rank or superior excellence; ordinary. Applied to men, it signifies, not noble, not distinguished by noble descent, or not distinguished by office, character or talents; as a common man; a common soldier. Applied to things, it signifies, not distinguished by excellence or superiority; as a common essay; a common exertion. It however is not generally equivalent to mean, which expresses something lower in rank or estimation.
8.
Prostitute; lewd; as a common woman.
9.
In grammar, such verbs as signify both action and passion, are called common; as aspernor, I despise or am despised; also, such nouns as are both masculine and feminine, as parens.
10.
A common bud, in botany, is one that contains both leaves and flowers; a common peduncle, one that bears several flowers; a common perianth, one that incloses several distinct fructification; a common receptacle, one that connects several distinct fructification.
Common divisor, in mathematics, is a number or quantity that divides two or more numbers or quantities without a remainder.
Common Law, in Great Britain and the United States, the unwritten law, the law that receives its binding force from immemorial usage and universal reception, in distinction from the written or statute law. That body of rules, principles and customs which have been received from our ancestors, and by which courts have been governed in their judicial decisions. The evidence of this law is to be found in the reports of those decisions, and the records of the courts. Some of these rules may have originated in edicts or statutes which are now lost, or in the terms and conditions of particular grants or charters; but it is most probable that many of them originated in judicial decisions founded on natural justice and equity, or on local customs.
Common pleas, in Great Britain, one of the kings courts, now held in Westminster-Hall. It consists of a chief justice and three other justices, and has cognizance of all civil causes, real, personal or mixed, as well by original writ, as by removal from the inferior courts. A writ of error, in the nature of an appeal, lies from this court to the court of kings bench.
In some of the American states, a court of common pleas is an inferior court, whose jurisdiction is limited to a county, and it is sometimes called a county court. This court is variously constituted in different states, and its powers are defined by statutes. It has jurisdiction of civil causes, and of minor offenses; but its final jurisdiction is very limited; all causes of magnitude being removable to a higher Court by appeal or by writ of error.prayer, the liturgy of the Church of England, which all the clergy of the Church are enjoined to use, under a penalty.
Common recovery, a legal process for recovering an estate or barring entails.
Common time, in music, duple or double time, when the semibreve is equal to two minims.
In common, equally with another, or with others; to be equally used or participated by two or more; as tenants in common; to provide for children in common; to assign lands to two persons in common, or to twenty in common; we enjoy the bounties of providence in common.

COMMON

, n.
1.
A tract of ground, the use of which is not appropriated to an individual, but belongs to the public or to a number. Thus we apply the word to an open ground or space in a highway, reserved for public use.
2.
In law, an open ground, or that soil the use of which belongs equally to the inhabitants of a town or of a lordship, or to a certain number of proprietors; or the profit which a man has in the land of another; or a right which a person has to pasture has cattle on land of another, or to dig turf, or catch fish, or cut wood, or the like; called common of pasture, of turbary, of piscary, and of estovers.
Common, or right of common, is appendant, appurtenant, because of vicinage, or in gross.
Common appendant is a right belonging to the owners or occupiers of arable land to put commonable beasts upon the lords waste, and upon the lands of other persons within the same manor. This is a matter of most universal right.
Common appurtenant may be annexed to lands in other lordships, or extend to other beasts, besides those which are generally commonable; this is not of common right, but can be claimed only b immemorial usage and prescription.
Common because of vicinage or neighborhood, is where the inhabitants of two townships, lying contiguous to each other, have usually intercommoned with one another, the beasts of the one straying into the others fields; this is a permissive right.
Common in gross or at large, is annexed to a mans person, being granted to him and his heirs by deed; or it may be claimed by prescriptive right, as by a parson of a church or other corporation sole.

COMMON

, v.i.
1.
To have a joint right with others in common ground.
2.
To board together; to eat at a table in common.

Definition 2024

common

common

English

Adjective

common ‎(comparative commoner or more common, superlative commonest or most common)

  1. Mutual; shared by more than one.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 19, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.
    The two competitors have the common aim of winning the championship.   Winning the championship is an aim common to the two competitors.‎
  2. Occurring or happening regularly or frequently; usual.
    • 2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193:
      Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.
    It is common to find sharks off this coast.‎
  3. Found in large numbers or in a large quantity.
    • 2012 March 1, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 128:
      Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)
    Sharks are common in these waters.‎
  4. Simple, ordinary or vulgar.
    • Washington Irving
      the honest, heart-felt enjoyment of common life
    • Shakespeare
      This fact was infamous / And ill beseeming any common man, / Much more a knight, a captain and a leader.
    • A. Murphy
      above the vulgar flight of common souls
    • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, chapter III:
      She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had thought to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe, polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.
  5. (grammar) In some languages, particularly Germanic languages, of the gender originating from the coalescence of the masculine and feminine categories of nouns.
  6. (grammar) Of or pertaining to common nouns as opposed to proper nouns.
  7. Vernacular, referring to the name of a kind of plant or animal, i.e., common name vs. scientific name.
  8. (obsolete) Profane; polluted.
    • Bible, Acts x. 15
      What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
  9. (obsolete) Given to lewd habits; prostitute.
    • L'Estrange
      a dame who herself was common

Synonyms

Antonyms

See also

Translations

Noun

common ‎(plural commons)

  1. Mutual good, shared by more than one.
  2. A tract of land in common ownership; common land.
    • 1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick:
      The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.
  3. The people; the community.
  4. (law) The right of taking a profit in the land of another, in common either with the owner or with other persons; so called from the community of interest which arises between the claimant of the right and the owner of the soil, or between the claimants and other commoners entitled to the same right.

Translations

Verb

common ‎(third-person singular simple present commons, present participle commoning, simple past and past participle commoned)

  1. (obsolete) To communicate (something).
    • 1526, William Tyndale, trans, Bible, Luke XXII:
      Then entred Satan into Judas, whose syr name was iscariot (which was of the nombre off the twelve) and he went his waye, and commened with the hye prestes and officers, how he wolde betraye hym vnto them.
  2. (obsolete) To converse, talk.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.ix:
      So long as Guyon with her commoned, / Vnto the ground she cast her modest eye [...].
    • Grafton
      Embassadors were sent upon both parts, and divers means of entreaty were commoned of.
  3. (obsolete) To have sex.
  4. (obsolete) To participate.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Thomas More to this entry?)
  5. (obsolete) To have a joint right with others in common ground.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)
  6. (obsolete) To board together; to eat at a table in common.

Derived terms

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: town · dark · ye · #438: common · subject · can't · ready

Etymology

From Middle English comun, from Anglo-Norman comun, from Old French comun (rare in the Gallo-Romance languages, but reinforced as a Carolingian calque of Frankish gemeini, gamaini "common" in Old French), from Latin commūnis ‎(“common, public, general”), from Proto-Indo-European *ko-moin-i ‎(“held in common”). Displaced native Middle English imene, ȝemǣne ‎(“common, general, universal”) (from Old English ġemǣne ‎(“common, universal”)), Middle English mene, mǣne ‎(“mean, common”) (also from Old English ġemǣne ‎(“common, universal”)), Middle English samen, somen ‎(“in common, together”) (from Old English samen ‎(“together”)).

Pronunciation

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