Com-mānd'ment, n.
n. [Fr. commandement, Pr. comandamen, It. comandamento, L. Lat. comandamentum.]
Sense 1. An order or injunction given by authority; charge; precept.
Seeing, then, that God alone is Lord of the soul and spirit, he alone can bind them by commandment. Mede.
Sense 2. (Script.) One of the ten laws given by God to the Israelites at Mount Sinai.
Sense 3. The exercise of coercive power; authority.
I thought that all things had been savage here, And therefore put I on the countenance Of stern commandment. Shak.
The ten commandments, the nails of the ten fingers. [Cant.] “I will set my ten commandments in your face.” Shak.