commos 
Cf. comma, of same tilt, origin.] In anc. Gr. 
trugcdy, a song or choric passage sung by an 
actor from the stage in alternation with the 
chorus, and expressive of sorrow or lamentation. 
commote 1 (ko-inof), v. t.; pret. and pp. com- 
muted, ppr. commoting. [< L. commotus, pp. of 
commocere, move, disturb: see common; com- 
motion-.'] Tocommove; disturb; stir up; throw 
into commotion. [Bare.] 
It was incidental to the closeness of relationship into 
which we liud brought ourselves, that an unfriendly state 
of feeling could not occur between any two members [of 
the Brook Farm Community] without the whole society 
being more or less commoted and made uncomfortable 
thereby. Hawthorne, Blithedale Romance, p. 16f>. 
commote-t, commott, n. |X W. cwmmwd, a 
subdivision of a hundred.] In Wales, half a 
hundred; fifty villages. 
Commotes seemeth to be compounded of the preposition 
can and mot, 1, veroum, dictio, a word or saying, and sig- 
nitleth in Wales a part of a shire, as a hundred anno '28 
H. 8 cap. 3. It is written counnoithes, anno 4 H. 4 cap. 17, 
ami is vsed for a gathering made vpon the people (as it 
seemeth) of this or that hundred, by Welshmen. 
Minsheu (1617). 
commotion (ko-mo'shon), n. [=F. commotion, 
OF. comocion = Pr. commocio = Sp. conmocion 
= Pg. commoq&o = It. commozione, < L. commo- 
tio(n-), < commovere, pp. commotus, move, dis- 
place, agitate, disturb: see commove.] 1. A 
violent movement or agitation : as, the commo- 
tion of the sea. 
From each hand with speed retired, 
Where erst was thickest fight, the angelic throng, 
And left large Held, unsafe within the wind 
Of such commotion. Milton, I*. L., vi. 310. 
Hence 2. Tumult of people; political or so- 
cial disturbance; turbulence; disorder; sedi- 
tion; insurrection. 
When ye shall hear of wars and coninwtionn.be not ter- 
rified. Luke xxi. 9. 
The like Commotion of the Commons was at the same 
Time also in Cambridgeshire. Baker, Chronicles, p. 139. 
3. Mental agitation; perturbation; disorder 
of mind ; excitement. 
Kingdom'd Achilles in commotion rages. 
Shak., T. andC.,ii. 3. 
He could not debate anything without some commotion. 
Clarendon. 
COmmotionert (ko-mo'shon-er), it. [< commo- 
tion + -er 1 .] One who excites commotion. 
A dangerous commotioner. Bacon, Obs. on a Libel. 
That ordinary commotioner, the lie, 
Is father of most quarrels in this climate. 
Middleton and Rowley, Fair Quarrel, li. 1. 
commotive (ko-mo'tiv), a. [= It. commotivo,' 
< ML. commotimis, serving to excite or disturb, 
< L. commotus : see commote^- and -MIC.] Subject 
to commotion ; disturbed; agitated. [Bare.] 
Th' Eternal!, knowing 
The Seas contmotffM and inconstant flowing, 
Thus curbed her. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 3. 
commove (ko-mov'), v. t. ; pret. and pp. corn- 
moved, ppr. commoring. [< ME. commoeven, 
commeven = OF. commuver, F. commouvoir = Sp. 
conmover = Pg. commoner = It. commtiovere, com- 
movere, < L. commovere, move, displace, agitate, 
disturb, < com-, together, + movere, move: see 
move.'] To put in motion ; disturb ; agitate ; U7i- 
settle ; throw into commotion. [Bare.] 
He who has seen the sea commoved with a great hurri- 
cane thinks of it very differently from him who has seen 
it only in a calm. The Century, XXVII. 189. 
communal (kom'u-nal), a. [= G. communal- 
(in comp.)= Dan. kommunal, < F. communal = 
Pr. comunal = Sp. comunal = It. comunale,< ML. 
communalis, < communa, communia, a commune : 
see commune 2 and common, .] 1. Pertaining 
to or of the nature of a commune ; belonging 
to the people of a commune : as, communal or- 
ganization ; communal land. 
The system of communal tenure, it must be admitted, 
was hostile to permanent or even transient improvement, 
because it left the personal advantage of outlay on such 
land insecure. Thorold Rogers, Work and Wages, p. 91. 
Did the primitive communal ownership survive, there 
would survive the primitive communal control of the uses 
to be made of land by individuals or by groups of them. 
H. Spencer, Man vs. State, p. 86. 
The year 1200 maybe regarded as the date at which the 
communal constitution of London was completed. 
Stubbs, Const. Hist. (2d ed.), 8 803. 
2. Communistic. See communalism. 
They bought at Nauvoo houses sufficient to accommo- 
date them, but very little land, renting such farms as they 
needed. They lived there on a communal system, and ate 
in a great dining room. 
Nordho/, Communistic Societies of the U. S. 
communalism (kom'u-nal-izm). . [< F. com- 
mttnalisme, < communal, communal, + -feme. 
1136 
-ism.] The theory of government by communes 
or corporations of towns and districts, adopted 
by many republicans in France and elsewhere ; 
the doctrine that every commune, or at least 
every important city commune, should be vir- 
tually an independent state in itself, and the 
nation merely a federation of such states. 
The movement in favor of the autonomy of 1'aris is an 
old one, and has been supported by many able and respect- 
able Frenchmen. One in favor of the movement is, how- 
ever, properly called a communalist, and not a communist, 
and the movement itself is communalitnn not commu- 
nism, li. T. Ely, French and German Socialism, p. 21. 
There were several Socialist journals, all of which advo- 
cated Bakunin's programme, Anarchy or Communalitnn ; 
that is to say, the absolute independence of each com- 
mune. Orpen, tr. of Laveleye's Socialism, p. 234. 
communalist (kom'u-nal-ist), n. [< F. com- 
munaliste, (communal, communal, + -iste, -ist.] 
One who believes in or advocates communalism. 
Communalistic (kom"u-na-lis'tik), a. [< com- 
munalist + -ic.] Pertaining to or of the nature 
of communalism : as, communalistic doctrines. 
communard (kom'u-nard), n. [F. communard, 
< commune (see commune of Paris (b), under com- 
mune 2 ) + -ard, in a depreciatory sense.] One 
who advocates government by communes ; a 
communalist ; especially, a member or support- 
er of the Paris commune of 1871. 
The federal republic has always been the favorite ideal 
of the Democrats of Spain and of the Communard* of 
Paris. Roe, Contemporary Socialism, p. 5. 
commune 1 (ko-mun'), v. ; pret. and pp. com- 
muned, ppr. communing. [< F. eommunier (only 
in sense 2) (cf. OF. comunier, > the older E. 
verb common, where the accent has regularly 
receded), < L. communicare, share, impart, LL. 
also make common or base (LL. and ML. also 
receive the communion), < com munis, common: 
see common, v., and communicate. ,] I. intrans. 
1. To converse; talk together familiarly; im- 
part ideas and sentiments mutually; inter- 
change thoughts or feelings. 
There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with 
thee. Ex. xxv. 22. 
If you could hut learn to commune with your own hearts, 
and know what noble company you can make them, you 
would little regard the elegance and splendours of the 
worthless. Goldsmith, Vicar, xxiii. 
2. To partake of the eucharist or Lord's sup- 
per ; receive the communion : a common use of 
the word in America and in Wales. 
To commune under both kinds. Bp. Buniet. 
Il.t trans. To cause to partake of the eucha- 
rist. Gesta Eomanorum. 
commune 1 (kom'un), n. [< commune^, ).] 
Familiar interchange of ideas or sentiments; 
communion; intercourse; friendly conversa- 
tion. 
A Spirit seemed 
To stand beside him ... 
Held commune with him. Shelley, Alastor. 
Days of happy commune. Tennyson, In Memoriam, cxvi. 
commune- (kom'un), n. [= Dan. kommune, < 
F. commune, < ML. communa, communia, a com- 
munity, territorial district : see common, a. and 
!.] 1. In general, a community organized for 
the protection and promotion of locxu interests, 
and subordinate to the state ; the government 
or governing body of such a community. 
In 1070, the citizens of Mans established a sworn con- 
federacy, which they called commune, in order to oppose 
the oppressions of Godfrey of Mayenne. 
Knglith Gilds (E. E. T. S.), Int., p. xcv. 
Apart from the government by Roman officials, every 
province appears to have had, at least under the empire, 
a provincial assembly or diet of its own (concilium or 
commune), and these diets are interesting as the first at- 
tempts at representative assemblies. 
Entyc. Brit., XIX. 885. 
" The commune- of Florence," said Villani, " lost in these 
two years " (for the famine, beginning in 1328, lasted into 
the year 1330) "more than sixty thousand florins of gold 
in the support of the people." 
C. E. Norton, Church-building in Middle Ages, p. 210. 
The monastery has through all the ages been at its best 
a private commune, carrying down a primitive custom by 
means of a religious enthusiasm. 
Westminister Rev., CXXV. 4. 
Specifically 2. The smallest administrative 
division of France, governed in its local affairs 
by a mayor and municipal council ; a munici- 
pality or township. In the country a commune some- 
times embraces a number of villages. Similar adminis- 
trative divisions so named exist in Italy, Belgium, etc. 
3. The people or body of citizens of a com- 
mune. 4. In Bussia, the community of peas- 
ants in a village. See mir The commune of 
Paris, (a) A revolutionary committee which took the place 
of the municipality of Paris in the French revolution of 
1789, and soon usurped the supreme authority in the state. 
communicate 
It was suppressed by the Convention in 1794. (b) A com- 
mittee or body of communalists who in 1871 ruled over 
Paris for a brief period alter the retirement of the German 
troops, but were suppressed, after severe fighting and 
much damage to the city, by troops under the authority 
of tile National Assembly of France. See communalism. 
C0mmune 3 t, a- and . A Middle English form 
of common. 
commune bonum (ko-mu'ne bo'mnn). [L. : 
commune, ueut. of communis, common ; bonum, 
a good thing: see common, a., bona, and 6oo3.] 
A common good ; a benefit to all ; a matter of 
mutual or general advantage. 
Communer 1 (ko-mu'ner), . One who com- 
munes or communicates. 
Communer- (kom'u-ner), n. [< commune 2 , n., 
+ -pr 1 .] A member of a commune ; a commu- 
nalist. 
The popular school is to be maintained by the Gemeiu- 
de, or commune, and the communers have not in general 
found themselves able to forego the income from school 
fees. Science, VIII. 593. 
communicability (ko-mu"ni-ka-bil'i-ti), n. [= 
F. comniunicabilM, etc. ; as communicable (see 
-bility).'] 1. The quality of being communicable; 
capability of being imparted, as by contact or 
intercourse. 
The question of the contagiousness of cerebro-spinal fe- 
ver remains still unsettled, but the weight of authority 
appears to be in favour of the theory of the communicauil- 
ity of the disease. Encyc. Brit., XVI. 11. 
2. In logic, capability of being common to sev- 
eral things. Thus, the characteristics of the sun, though 
peculiar to that luminary, possess communicability, inas- 
much as there might be two suns. 
communicable (ko-mu'ni-ka-bl), a. [= F. com- 
municable = Sp. comunicable = Pg. communica- 
vel = It. comunicabilc, < ML. communicabilis, < L. 
communicare, communicate : see communicate.] 
1 . Capable of being communicated, (o) Capable 
of being imparted ; transferable ; conferable (upon) : as, 
communicable ideas, news, etc. 
Eternal life is communicable to all. 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 20. 
Things not reveal'd which the invisible King, 
Only Omniscient, hath suppress'd in night, 
To none communicable in earth or heaven. 
Milton, r. L., vii. 124. 
(b) Contagious; infectious. 
Manners are very communicable; men catch them from 
each other. Emerson, Conduct of Life. 
(c) Able to impart or communicate ideas ; commonly un- 
derstood. 
Vulgar Instruction requiring also vulgar and communi- 
cable termes, not clerkly or vncouthe as are all these of the 
Greeke and Latine languages. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 133. 
2. Communicative; ready to converse or jm- 
part information. 
Be communicable with your friends. 
B. Jomon, Epiccene, ill. 2. 
Perhaps SirHugo would have been communicable enough 
without that kind motive. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda. 
communicableness (ko - mu ' ni - ka - bl - nes), . 
The quality of being communicable. 
The antient Hebrew had the same Fortune that the Greek 
and Latin Tongues had, to fall from l>eing naturally spoken 
any where, to lose their general Communicableness and 
Vulgarity, and to become only School and Book-Languages. 
Howell, Letters, ii. 60. 
communicably (ko-mu'ni-ka-bli), adv. In a 
communicable manner ; witli communication. 
communicant (ko-mu'ni-kant), a. and n. [= G. 
Dan. kommunikant, n., = F^ communicant = Sp. 
It. comunicante = Pg. communicante, < L. com- 
munican(t-)g, ppr. of communicare, communi- 
cate: see communicate.'] I. a. Communicating; 
imparting. Coleridge. [Bare.] 
II. n. One who communicates at the Lord's 
table ; one who is entitled to partake of the sac- 
rament at the celebration of the eucharist. 
A constant frequenter of worship, and a never-failing 
monthly communicant. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons. 
communicantes (ko-mu-ni-kan'tez), n. [So 
called from the first word, L. communicantes, pi. 
of communican(t-)s, ppr. of communicare, com- 
municate.] In the Boman canon of the mass, 
the prayer following the commemoration or 
memento of the living, and containing the com- 
memoration of the saints. Also called infra 
actionem. 
communicate (ko-mu'ni-kat), v.; pret. and pp. 
communicated, ppr. communicating. [< L. com- 
municatus, pp. of communicare (> It. comimi- 
care, etc. : see common, v.), impart, share, make 
common, commune (hence ult. E. commune^, 
., and common, c.), < communis, common: see 
common, a. and M.] I. trans. 1. To give to 
another as a partaker ; bestow or confer in joint 
possession; impart knowledge or a stiare of: 
as, to communicate intelligence, news, opinions, 
