To have a beginning or origin; to originate; to start; to begin. Here the anthem doth commence. Shak. His heaven commences ere the world be past. Goldsmith.
To begin to be, or to act as. [Archaic] We commence judges ourselves. Coleridge.
To take a degree at a university. [Eng.] I question whether the formality of commencing was used in that age. Fuller.
To enter upon; to begin; to perform the first act of. Many a wooer doth commence his suit. Shak.
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