commolition 
demolish, demolition.] The act of grinding to- 
gether. Sir T. Browne. 
common (kom'on), a. and n. [< MK. mmon, co- 
milll, i-iiiiiinui, i-iiliirn, fiiiiujii. less freijiiently riuii- 
in ii n. < i iiiitiiiiiiii',<.Ot\ coniuii, cum HI ii ii. F. aniimuii, 
m., riniuiiiiiii , (. (romniiiHe, t., also as a nouii: 
seecniiiiiion, n., and <<;< mitiir-, .), = Pr. COIIIIIH. 
ciiinii = Sp. cumuli = Pg. com in n in = It. <.>// ///i. , 
< L. riiminiiiiix, OL. I'nniiiiiiin, coinnion, general, 
univiT.-;il: of iiiiri-rtjiiii foniintioii: perhaps < 
(<-, together, 4- "iiiiiiiiy, bouiid; cf. IHUIII*. 
obliging, ready to be of si-i-vin-. iiiiiiiiiiii.i, IK- 
OTUHI.S-, <>L. iiunii'iiix, not bound, exempt (> nit. 
E. immunity), iniiiiu* (niiim-r-), < >L. HIII-HHH, ser- 
vice, duty, obligation (> ull. K. miuirrittr, ;</- 
nerate), >/, walls, bulwarks, miinire, OL. 
manure, wall about, defend (> ult. K. initiniiu ni. 
munition, etc.). In another view I>. communis is 
prop. eomuititt, OL. ritmninix (as above). < com-, 
together, + *, OL. OI'HOS = E. owe. In either 
view the L. in usually regarded as cognate with 
the equiv. Teut. word: (ioth. (jumnins = OHG. 
gimeini, MHU. </<</<, ( I. </< mi-in = D. gemeen = 
AS. i/i-iiiifiii; MK. ;, K. , common; but 
the kinship of L. cow- with Teut. j/n-, </o, and 
still more the survival into Teut. of the full form 
gam-, as required by the second view, are doubt- 
ful. See ge- and mean'*. Hence (from L. <-<nn- 
miinix), besides commiin, <<//<<', r., I'IHII- 
HIIIHI--, n., i-niHiuuHirate, etc.] I. a. 1. Of or 
pertaining to all that is, to all the human 
race, or to all in a given country, region, or 
locality; being a general possession or right ; 
of a public nature or character. 
The comun weele, welfare, and prosperlte of the el<l 
cite, accordynge to the kyngs lawes, alwey kept and for- 
eyu- Enyliih Giltti (E. E. T. S.), p. 407. 
Such actions ai the common good requireth. 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, I. $ 10. 
The common air. Shall., Rich. II., I. 3. 
One writes that "Other friends remain," 
That " Loss is common to the race." 
Tennyton, In Memoriam, vl. 
Then there was the common land held as separate prop- 
erty, not liy single owners, but by communities, something 
like the lands of colleges and other corporations ut tin- 
present day, and as land is still held by village communi- 
ties In India and the eastern Slavonic countries of Europe. 
F. Pollock, Land Laws, p. 20. 
I'd not bate one nail's breadth of the honest truth, 
though I were sure the whole edition of my work would 
be bought up and burnt by the common hangman of Con- 
necticut. Irviny, Knickerbocker, p. 219. 
Such a man as Emerson l>elongs to no one town or prov- 
ince or continent ; he is the common property of mankind. 
0. W. Holmet, Emerson, xvl. 
2. Pertaining equally to, or proceeding equally 
from, two or more; joint: as, life and sense 
are common to man and beast; it was done by 
common consent of the parties. 
And comen to a conseille for here comtme profit. 
Picri Plowman (B), Prol., 1. 148. 
The kynge Arthur hem departed [divided them] by coin- 
on assent of alle the Harouns after the! were of astate or 
degre. Mtrtin (E. E. T. 8.), iii. 803. 
One common note on either lyre did strike 
And knaves and fools we both abhorr'd alike. 
Dnjden, To the Memory of Mr. Oldharn, 1. 5. 
3. Of frequent or usual occurrence ; not excep- 
tional; usual; habitual. 
Hit Is slker [sure), for sothe, and a sagh [saying) cornyn. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 2075. 
It Is no act of common passage, but 
A itrain of rareness. Shak., Oymbellne, 111. 4. 
The ammonett operations in nature. Sietft. 
4. Not distinguished from the majority of oth- 
ers ; of persons, belonging to the general mass ; 
not notable for rank, ability, etc. ; of things, 
not of superior excellence; ordinary: as, a cow- 
won soldier; the common people; common food 
or clothing. 
Ac Ich wol drynke of no dich . . . 
!'"!' of comune coppes [cups). 
Pten Plowman (C), xxl. 409. 
The common People are no less to be feared for their 
Number, than the Mobility for their Greatness. 
Baker, Chronicles, p. 24. 
The common matter-of-fact world of sense and sight. 
Dr. Caird. 
5t. Of the common people. 
In kynges court and in cnninne court. 
Piert Plowman (C), III. 22. 
6. Trite; hackneyed; commonplace; low; in- 
ferior; vulgar; coarse. 
Sweets grown common lose their dear delight. 
Shak., Sonnets, ell. 
7t. At the disposal of all ; prostitute. 
You talk of women 
That arc not worth the favour of a common one. 
r'lttclter. Wlldgoose Chase, II. 3. 
A dame who herself was common. Sir R. L' Estrange.. 
8. N'nt 
clean. 
1133 
..r Miiii'tiMi-il: ''r.-momiilly un- 
Voihm;: i;,,niiii,n o> unelean hath at an} ilu 
Intomj mouth. \, , xl. . 
9. In iii-iii,,.: at) Both masculine and t'cininini-: 
optionally masculine <>r feminine: mi id ut ;i 
word, in a language generally .listing"' 
masculine and feminine, which is capable ..! 
use a-, either. (//) Used indifferently to desig- 
nate any individual of a class; appellative; not 
proper: as, it i-ninninn noun: opposed t o ///; 
(which see). 10. In I.H..V.. either lout; or short; 
of doubtful or variable quantity: as. a i-ninnum 
vowel; a i-iiiiim-m syllable. In ancient prosody a 
'"'mi ..... M HUM,- kfcnenlbr em containing aln>rt \..\>ei 
in weak position ... ,, s Hi, p,-nnlt .if - 
fi-ininiiu- of altar. In Ijitln, Greek, and Sanskrit poctn 
the last syllable of a verse or period i- , omm.ni that l>, 
can l>c cither long or *hort, no matter uhic-b .inantiu i- 
rcqulred by the in. t. r 
11. Iii limit.: (</) Not peculiar or particular; 
not specialized or differentiated: as, the ctmi- 
IHOII integument of the body, (b) Forming or 
formed by other more particular parts: as, 
the common carotid or common iliac artery, ax 
distinguished from the internal and external ar- 
teries of the same name ; the common trunk of a 
nerve, as distinguished from its branches; the 
common origin of the coracobrachialis muscle 
and of the short head of the biceps muscle that 
is, t he origin which they have in common. 12. 
In rntnm., continuous on two united surfaces: 
said of (a) lines and marks which pass in an 
uninterrupted manner from the anterior to the 
posterior wings when both are extended, or of 
(6) marks or processes on the two elytra which 
when closed appear as one Book of Common 
Prayer. See irraytr-botik. Common accident, in injic, 
a character or a predicate which always or nearly always 
Is found In a certain kind of subject. Common assur- 
ances, the legal evidence of the transfer of the title t<> 
property, as deeds or wills. Common ball. See bail", 
Common barrator. See barrutvr, tt. Common 
Bench*, the rmii-t of rommon Pleas. -Common black. 
See black. Common bud, in but., a bud which is at oim- 
a leaf-bud and a dower-bud. Common carrier See 
carrie/'!, 2. Common Centering. See ceuttriny?.- 
Common chord. See chord. Common council. See 
council. Common-councilman. See euuei7i<< 
Common dialect ("I <:re,'k>, specifically the form of 
ancient Greek spoken and written by the educated classes 
in Greece and other countries after the time of Alexander 
the Great. Also called the llrlltnic dialect, and distin- 
guished on the one hand from pure Attic, which It ap- 
proached more or less closely, and on the other from the 
Alexandrian and other local or Hellenistic dialects. The 
writings of Aristotle mark the transition from Attic to the 
common dialect, and Polybius is the earliest writer of note 
who employs It. Authors who exerted themselves to re- 
store the common dialect as far as possible to the pure 
Attic standard are called Atlicut*. After the fourth cen- 
tury A. D. the common dialect changed gradually Into 
Byzantine Greek. Common diligence. SeerfiVijCTU*. 
Common divisor. Seedi'eucor. Common field. (Gen- 
erally in the plural.) (a) The arable land of an ancient 
village community. Such fields were divided Into three 
long narrow strips separated by balks of turf al unit three 
feet wide, and the strips, though allotted to several own- 
ership, were cultivated or at least plowed l>y cooperation. 
(6) In those parts of the southern United States which 
were formerly a province of France, small tracts of land, 
usually from one to three yards in width by forty In length 
and fenced in. which were cultivated by the inhabitant* 
of villages. Common gaming-house, common gam- 
bling-house, a build ing or structure, or a part of a tmild- 
iiift or structure, kept as a place of resort for the purpose 
of gaming. The keeping of such a place Is a criminal of- 
fense. In ordertorneetvarimisdevices to evade the letter 
of the law, tile statutory definitions are usually minute, 
specifying a great variety of detail. The essential features 
of all or nearly all laws against common gaming-houses 
consist In the prohibition of maintaining a place of shel- 
ter In any degree accessible to the public, whether open to 
all who come or only to a select or favored few, as a place 
of resort for the purpose of gaming. See gaming. Com- 
mon good, In Scoti (a w, in its widest sense, all the property 
of a corporation over which the magistrates have a power 
of administration solely for behoof of the corporation. 
Common land, loosely, land owned in severally but used 
in common ; more strictly, land owned by the community, 
and, not Iwlng appropriated for the time to cultivation by 
any individual, used as waste or open land for common 
pasturage. See II., 3. Common law. (a) In its most 
general sense, the system of law in force among English- 
speaking peoples, and derived from England. In contradis- 
tinction to the civil or Roman law and the canon or ecclesi- 
astical law. (6) More appropriately, the parts of the former 
system which do not rest for their authority on any subsist- 
ing express legislative act ; the unwritten law. In this sense 
common law consists in those principles and rules which are 
gathered from the reports of adjudged cases, from the opin- 
ions of text-writers and commentators, and from popular 
usage and custom, in contradistinction to statute law. (c) 
More narrowly, that part of the system just defined which 
was recognized and administered by the king's justices. In 
contradistinction to the modifications introduced by the 
chancellors as rules of equity in restraint or enlargement of 
tliecustomaryandstatutflrylaw(seer7Hifj/), and, in respect 
of procedure, in contradistinction to the code practice. 
Common-law procedure acts, three English statute* of 
1852, 1854, and 1800 which simplified the forms of process, 
pleading, and practice ill the superior courts. Common 
long meter, in laalnmli/, a six-lined stanza combining a 
common-meter stanza with half of a long-meter stanza : 
common 
thus, N. , - n -. - vi~, < ailed mmmm WMi/niA ,Htter. 
Common measure. (> *< mm... .nnier 
In //,../,., duple and quadruple rhilhin 
usual sltfu(X) lor these rhythnu i- -I.MV--I 
tl'illl tbe thei.rl of medieval Inll-li I. ill- that y 
duple rhithni a Imperfect, and -, i .. bi (' (' Q 
indleaU'd by a half or broken . n . I, i /;, |. 
i- Hot the initial of tile Mold loluinon, ABC 
i iuinall) triple rhilhni was in... 
-land. II, I ..I peife, I Ib) tb In. | be -l^li .1 now n,n 
ally slunllleii quadruple i hit Inn. four IH .it - t., ih< n.. 
while I' -iiinllli - diipb- llillhm. two b. . aurv! 
Also ealb-d ,-,. Common meter, n 
,i form of iambie tan/ji, primarily of I 1m. - 
alt, inatri) 8 and 6 syllables to tin- iim- : ,,e u iied i.- 
it was the eomniouest stanza in <;nh p-.tlni-li. / 
'""" -' i-.i-i- -,f :. -i n, /.i with - in',, aaVing 
alternate]! i ami t) j liable-. Common multiple x-i- 
mMlti,^,: Common notion, a notion applicable to sev- 
eral object*. Common nuisance, see 
Common particular meter, in latalmady, a stanza 
with 'i line,., the third ami l\tli of win, h have and the 
rest 8 syllables. Common pasturage, in >"' t'iu; a 
known rural servitude 1-1 win. b the own, i ,,( tl., 
mint tenement in entitled to pa-lure a ,. Hal m her of 
eattle on the grass grounds of the hcriicnt 
Common place ur&< 
rowof (see, forexani]ile. .1. i-r-r/. , l:bit,.n< i 
Le., general, argument: - 
commonplace, a. and n.|, a consideration or ai^iim, nt ap 
plicable to a variety of cases. See place. 
Tlie matter of proorlng any question b to be fetched 
from eertuine common place*. 
Blundccillc, Arte of Logicke (I&UU), Iv. 2. 
Common Pleas. See Court ./ Common Pleat, under 
Mart Common prayer, tb,- liturgy or public form of 
prayer prescribed by the i bun b of Kim-land to be used In 
all churches and chapels In public worship. The Book of 
Common Prayer is used aUo, with some variation*, by the 
Episcopal churches In Scotland, Ireland, America, and the 
colonies, and Is the basis or exemplar of similar devotional 
works used by some non-episcopal bodies. See prayer- 
boot. common recovery, a collusive suit instituted 
by the Intended grantee of land against the Intended 
grantor, In which the land Is suffered to be recovered by 
the grantee : a device, now obsolete, for evading legal re- 
straints on alienation by conveyance. Common room, 
the room to which all the members of a college have ac- 
cess. There is sometimes one common room for graduates 
and another for undergraduates. Craob'i Tech. Diet. 
Oh, could the days once more but come 
When calm 1 smoak'd In cunnnnn n>m 
The Student, Oxf. and Cam. (1750), I. 2S7. 
Common school. In the United States, an elementary 
school open to all the youth of a defined district, main- 
tained wholly or In part at the public expense. - Com- 
mon BCOld. See JCoJd. Common seal, a seal used by 
a corporation as the symbol of Its incorporation. Com- 
mon sense. () In phiUu. and pnychnl. : (1) As used by 
Aristotle, the faculty in which the various reports of the 
several senses are reduced to the unity of a common ap- 
perception. Sir If'. Hamilton. (2) Same as caeneithemt. 
(3) In ScofcA philos the complement of those cognitions 
or convictions which we receive from nature, which all 
men possess In common, and by which they test the truth 
of knowledge and the morality of actions. Sir W. Ham- 
ilton, (b) Sound practical judgment ; good sense ; the 
practical sense of the greater part of mankind, especial- 
ly as unaffected by logical subtleties or imagination 
Common sensory, the brain or the part of the brain In 
which the different peripheral sensations are united into a 
conjoint idea. Common sergeant, a judicial offlcer of 
the corporation of the city of London ; an assistant to the 
recorder. Common syllogism, a syllogism whose mid- 
dle is a common term. Common term, a term predicable 
of several individuals. Common time. Same as common 
meature (6). Common way, a way common to the resi- 
dents of a particular locality, as distinguished from a high- 
way, which is free to all. In common. [ M E. in commune, 
after K. en commtm, < ML. in commune.] (a) Equally with 
another or with others ; all equally ; for equal use or par- 
ticipation in by two or more : as, tenants in common; to 
provide for children in common; to assign lands to two or 
more persons in common ; we enjoy the bounties of Provi- 
dence in common, (6t) In public. 
Cryst to a comune woman seyde in comune at a feste. 
That fides sua shulde -anen hir and saluen |heal| hir of 
alle Mime-. Piert Plowman (B), xl. 211. 
To make common cause with. See ...- syn. 3. 
Common, General, Universal, Prevalent. Common merely 
denotes what may frequently be met with, or what Is 
ordinary, but it docs not necessarily imply a majority; 
general, stronger than common. Implies a majority; uni- 
i>ero/ and general are related to each other as the whole 
to the part; general includes the greater part or number, 
or admits of exceptions; universal takes In every Indi- 
vidual, and admits of no exceptions. Prevalent In all Its 
meanings has something of the sense of prevailing or over- 
coming. Persons or things may be common; opinions, 
diseases, etc., not persons, may lie prevalent. 
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and 
It is common among men. EccL Tt 1. 
I woke, and found him settled down 
I'pon the general decay of faith 
Klght thro' the world, "at home was little left, 
And none abroad." TYuiii/rou. The Epic. 
Preach'd 
An univertal culture for the crowd. 
TVnnynon, Prol. to Princess. 
The technical meaning of the word epidemic should be 
assimilated to the common meaning, . . . and the word 
used ... as a merely quantitative term applicable to 
particular phenomena . . . in so far as they are "common 
to a whole people, or to a greater number in a communi- 
ty "; or In a word are prevalent or general. 
Quain, Med. Diet., p. 442. 
4 and 6. Common, Ordinary, Vulgar, Mean. These words 
are on a descending scale. Common is opposed to rare. 
