Common | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Cŏm'mon, a.

adjective

a. [compar. COMMONER; superl. COMMONEST.] [O. Eng. commun, commune, Fr. commun, Fr. & Sp. comun, Pg. commun, It. comune, Lat. communis, from com, for con, and munis, ready to be of service, from munus, service, work. Ger. gemein, O. H. Ger. gimeine, Goth. gamains, A-S. gemæne, gemæne, are allied to Lat. communis.]

Belonging equally to more than one, or to many indefinitely; belonging to the public or to all mankind; serving for the use of all; general. “Such actions as the common good requireth.” Hooker. “The common enemy of man.” Shak. “The common prison.” Milton. “Things common by nature.” Locke.
Often met with; usual; frequent. “Grief more than common grief.” Shak. “The common engine of despotism, a military force.” Hallam.
Not distinguished by rank or character; ordinary; — often in a depreciating sense. “The common people.” Shak. “The honest, heart-felt enjoyment of common life.” W. Irving.
Given to habits of lewdness; prostitute. “A dame who herself was common.” L’Estrange.

Common bail (Law), bail in which the recognizance or surety is merely nominal. — Common carrier (Law), one who undertakes, for hire, to transport goods from one place to another. Such a carrier is liable for all losses and injuries to the goods, except those which have happened in consequence of the act of God, or of the enemies of the country, or of the owner of the property himself. Bouvier. — Common chord (Mus.), a chord consisting of the fundamental tone, with its third and fifth. — Common council, the council of a city or corporate town, empowered to make by-laws for the government of the citizens. — Common crier, the crier of a town or city. — Common divisor, or measure (Math.), a number or quantity that divides two or more numbers or quantities without a remainder. — Common gender (Gram.), one which is either masculine or feminine. — Common hall, a hall or house in which citizens meet for business. — Common law, the unwritten law, the law that receives its binding force from immemorial usage and universal reception, in distinction from the written or statute law. This term is often used in contradistinction from statute law, sometimes from the civil or canon law; occasionally from the lex mercatoria, or admiralty and maritime jurisprudence, and frequently from equity. Many use it to designate a law common to the whole country. See LAW. — Common lawyer, one versed in common law. — Common learning (Law), well-known, familiar law or doctrine. Burrill. — Common mine (Mil.), one whose crater at top is as wide as it is deep. — Common noun (Gram.), the name of any one of a class of objects, as distinguished from a proper noun, the name of a particular person or thing. — Common Pleas, one of the three superior courts of common law at Westminster, presided over by a chief justice and four puisne judges. Its jurisdiction is confined to civil matters. Courts bearing this title exist in several of the United States, having, however, in some cases, both civil and criminal jurisdiction extending over the whole State. In other States the jurisdiction of the common pleas is limited to a county, and it is sometimes called a county court. Its powers are generally defined by statute. — Common prayer, the liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal church, which all its clergy are enjoined to use, under a penalty. — Common school, a school maintained at the public expense, and open to all. — Common sense. (a.) A supposed sense which was held to be the common bond of all the others. [Obs.] Trench. (b.) Sound, practical judgment; the instantaneous decision of unperverted reason. — Common time (Mus.), that variety of time in which the measure consists of two or of four equal portions. — Common verb, one which is both active and passive. — 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. Syn. — General; public; popular; national; universal; frequent; ordinary; customary; usual; familiar; habitual; vulgar; mean; trite; stale; threadbare; commonplace. See MUTUAL.

Cŏm'mon, n.

noun

n. 1. An uninclosed tract of ground, the use of which is not appropriated to an individual, but belongs to the public, or to a number; sometimes applied also to an inclosed tract of public ground.

Then take we down his load, and turn him off, Like to the empty ass, to shake his ears, And graze in commons. Shak.

Sense 2. (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.—Common because of vicinage, or 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 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 person of a church or other corporation sole. Blackstone.—Common of estovers, the right of taking wood for fuel, or for the use and furniture of a house or farm.—Common of pasture, the right of feeding beasts on the land of another in common with the owner or with other persons. Burrill.—Common of piscary, the right of fishing in waters belonging to another.—Common of turbary, the privilege of digging turf upon the ground of another.

Cŏm'mon, v. i.

verbintransitive

1. To converse together; to discourse; to confer. [Obs.] Embassadors were sent upon both parts, and divers means of entreaty were communed of. Grafton.

To have a joint right with others in common ground. Johnson.
To participate; to suffer or enjoy in common. [Obs.] Sir T. More.
To board together; to eat at a table in common.

Côm'mon, adv.

adverb

Commonly. [Rare.] Shak.