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State or quality of being common or usual; as, the commonness of sunlight.

tions. Angle of commutation (Astron.), the difference of the geocentric longitudes of the sun and a planet. -- Commutation of tithes, the substitution of a regular payment, chargeable to the land, for the annual tithes in kind. -- Commutation ticket, a ticket, as for transportation, which is the evidence of a contrac…

rmly; to consolidate; to make close; -- as the parts which compose a body. Now the bright sun compacts the precious stone. Blackstone.

d the thirty-two points or rhumbs. -- Compass dial, a small pocket compass fitted with a sundial to tell the hour of the day. -- Compass plane (Carp.), a plane, convex in the direction of its length on the under side, for smoothing the concave faces of curved woodwork. -- Compass plant, Compass flower (Bot.), a plan…

f the canonical hours of the Western church; the last prayer of the day, to be said after sunset. The custom of godly man been to shut up the evening with a compline of prayer at nine of the night. Hammond.

, but really composed of several florets inclosed in a common calyxlike involucre, as the sunflower or dandelion. -- Compound fraction. (Math.) See Fraction. -- Compound fracture. See Fracture. -- Compound householder, a householder who compounds or arranges with his landlord that his rates shall be included in his…

give no man a reason upon compulsion. Shak. With what complusion and laborious flight We sunk thus low. Milton.

; the product of a rational belief or judgment. See Concept. He [Herodotus] says that the sun draws or attracts the water; a metaphorical term obviously intended to denote some more general and abstract conception than that of the visible operation which the word primarily signifies. Whewell.

ars or planets in the same degree of the zodiac; as, the conjunction of the moon with the sun, or of Jupiter and Saturn. See the Note under Aspect, n., 6.

h of consecution (Astron.), a month as reckoned from one conjunction of the moon with the sun to another.

ation of areas (Astron.), the principle that the radius vector drawn from a planet to the sun sweeps over equal areas in equal times. -- Conservation of energy, or Conservation of force (Mech.), the principle that the total energy of any material system is a quantity which can neither be increased nor diminished by an…

dy; natural condition; structure; texture; conformation. The physical constitution of the sun. Sir J. Herschel.

The part sung by the highest male or lowest female voices; the alto or counter tenor.

A peculiar luminous apearance, or aureola, which surrounds the sun, and which is seen only when the sun is totally eclipsed by the moon.

(R. C. Ch.), a festival in honor of the eucharist, observed on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. -- Corpus Christi cloth. Same as Pyx cloth, under Pyx. -- Corpus delicti (d Etym: [L., the body of the crime] (Law), the substantial and fundamental fact of the comission of a crime; the proofs essential to establish a c…

Rising or setting with the sun; -- the opposite of acronycal.

With the sun at rising or setting; as, a star is said to rise or set cosmically when it rises or sets with the sun.

hard; impermeable; unyielding. [Obs.] Clay in dry seasons is costive, hardening with the sun and wind. Mortimer.

ingly faint roundish or somewhat oblong nebulous light near the ecliptic and opposite the sun, best seen during September and October, when in the constellations Sagittarius and Pisces. Its cause is not yet understood. Called also Gegenschein.

), a sudden and unexpected movement or attack. -- Coup de soleil (k Etym: [F.] (Med.), a sunstroke. See Sunstroke. -- Coup d'état (k Etym: [F.] (Politics), a sudden, decisive exercise of power whereby the existing government is subverted without the consent of the people; an unexpected measure of state, more or less…