Com·mis'sion1, n.
(-mish'un), n. [Fr. commission, Pr. & Sp. comision, It. commissione, Lat. & L. Lat. commissio. See supra.]
Sense 1. The act of committing, doing, or performing;—usually in a bad sense; the act of perpetrating.
Every commission of sin introduces into the soul a certain degree of hardness. South.
Sense 2. A formal act of committing some charge or trust to a person; a warrant, usually in writing, for exercising certain powers or performing certain duties, whether civil, ecclesiastical, military, or of any other kind; charge; trust; office.
Hath the prince John a full commission, In very ample virtue of his father, To hear and absolutely to determine Of what conditions we shall stand upon? Shak.
Sense 3. A company of persons joined in the exercise of some duty or the charge of some trust.
The memorial of the clergy received prompt attention from the government. A commission was at once appointed to examine into the matter. Prescott.
Sense 4. (Com.) (a.) The acting under authority of, or on account of, another. (b.) The thing to be done as agent for another; as, I have three commissions for the city. (c.) The brokerage or allowance made to a factor or agent for transacting business for another. See DEL CREDERE.
Commission of bankruptcy, a commission appointing and empowering certain persons to examine into the facts relative to an alleged bankruptcy, and to secure the bankrupt's lands and effects for the creditors.—Commission of lunacy, a commission authorizing an inquiry whether a person is a lunatic or not.—Commission, or commissioned, officer (Mil.), one who has a commission, in distinction from a subordinate officer.—To put a ship into commission (Nav.), to send it forth on public service after it has been laid up.—To put the great seal into commission, to place it in the hands of commissioners during the period that intervenes between the going out of one lord keeper and the accession of another. [Eng.]
Synonyms—Charge; warrant; authority; mandate; office.