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To form wrinkles in the forehead; to manifest displeasure; to frown. [Obs.] The Commons frounced and stormed. Holland.

In the English House of Commons, a narrow aisle across the house, below which sit those who do not vote steadly either with the government or with the opposition.

ure; a body of men united in a legislative capacity; as, the House of Lords; the House of Commons; the House of Representatives; also, a quorum of such a body. See Congress, and Parliament.

Moody; whimsical; capricious. Hawthorne. The commons do not abet humorsome, factious arms. Burke.

To graze cattle promiscuously in the commons of each other, as the inhabitants of adjoining townships, manors, etc.

of Parliament; your lordship first signed it, and then it was passed among the Lords and Commons. Dryden.

Having an estate in land. The House of Commons must consist, for the most part, of landed men. Addison.

o intellectual culture." De Quincey. The ministerial benches, the benches in the House of Commons occupied by members of the cabinet and their supporters; -- also, the persons occupying them. "Very solid and very brilliant talents distinguish the ministerial benches." Burke.

in and Ireland, viz., the lords spiritual, lords temporal, and the representatives of the commons, sitting in the House of Lords and the House of Commons, constituting the legislature, when summoned by the royal authority to consult on the affairs of the nation, and to enact and repeal laws.

In the university of Cambridge, England, one who pays for his living in commons; -- corresponding to commoner at Oxford. Ld. Lytton.

being settled and reposed, the lord archibishop did present his majesty to the lords and commons. Fuller. After the toil of battle to repose Your wearied virtue. Milton.

An allowance of food and drink from the buttery, aside from the regular dinner at commons; -- corresponding to battel at Oxford.

ve assembly, preserving order and regulating the debates; as, the Speaker of the House of Commons, originally, the mouthpiece of the House to address the king; the Speaker of a House of Representatives.

ter; as, the civil and ecclesiastical states, or the lords spiritual and temporal and the commons, in Great Britain. Cf. Estate, n., 6.

permanent property that may be held, so as to create a tenancy, as lands, houses, rents, commons, an office, an advowson, a franchise, a right of common, a peerage, and the like; -- called also free or frank tenements. The thing held is a tenement, the possessor of it a "tenant," and the manner of possession is called…

which anything is divided; as, the third part of a day. Third estate. (a) In England, the commons, or the commonalty, who are represented in Parliament by the House of Commons. (b) In France, the tiers état. See Tiers état. Third order (R. C. Ch.), an order attached to a monastic order, and comprising men and women dev…

The third estate, or commonalty, in France, answering to the commons in Great Britain; -- so called in distinction from, and as inferior to, the nobles and clergy.

- Treasury bench, the first row of seats on the right hand of the Speaker in the House of Commons; -- so called because occupied by the first lord of the treasury and chief minister of the crown. [Eng.] -- Treasury lord. See Lord high treasurer of England, under Treasurer. [Eng.] -- Treasury note (U. S. Finance), a cir…

action of water; as, the wash of a sewer, of a river, etc. The wash of pastures, fields, commons, and roads, where rain water hath a long time settled. Mortimer.