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The day when degrees are conferred by colleges and universities upon students and others.

l advantages; commercial relations. "Princely commercial houses." Macaulay. Commercial college, a school for giving instruction in commercial knowledge and business. -- Commercial law. See under Law. -- Commercial note paper, a small size of writing paper, usually about 5 by 7½ or 8 inches. -- Commercial paper, nego…

A formal written warrant or authority, granting certain powers or privileges and authorizing or commanding the performance of certain duties. Let him see our commission. Shak.

pertaining to, or conferring, a commission; conferred by a commission or warrant. [R.] Delegate or commissionary authority. Bp. Hall.

[An obsolete Latinism.] Committing short and long [quantities]. Milton. To commit a bill (Legislation), to refer or intrust it to a committee or others, to be considered and reported. -- To commit to memory, or To commit, to learn by heart; to memorize.

re persons elected or appointed, to whom any matter or bussiness is referred, either by a legislative body, or by a court, or by any collective body of men acting together. Commitee of the whole [house], a committee, embracing all the members present, into which a legislative or deliberative body sometimes resolves its…

f the fundamental tone, with its third and fifth. -- Common council, the representative (legislative) body, or the lower branch of the representative body, of a city or other munisipal corporation. -- Common crier, the crier of a town or city. -- Common divisor (Math.), a number or quantity that divides two or more…

Provisions; food; fare, -- as that provided at a common table in colleges and universities. Their commons, though but coarse, were nothing scant. Dryden.

A body of people having common rights, privileges, or interests, or living in the same place under the same laws and regulations; as, a community of monks. Hence a number of animals living in a common home or with some apparent association of interests. Creatures that in communities exist. Wordsworth.…

with the view of discovering the resemblances or differences; relative estimate. As sharp legal practitioners, no class of human beings can bear comparison with them. Macaulay. The miracles of our Lord and those of the Old Testament afford many interesting points of comparison. Trench.

rcles, measuring figures, etc., consisting of two, or (rarely) more, pointed branches, or legs, usually joined at the top by a rivet on which they move.

Legal capacity or qualifications; fitness; as, the competency of a witness or of a evidence.

Answering to all requirements; adeqouate; sufficient; suitable; capable; legally qualified; fit. "A competent knowledge of the world." Arrerbury. "Competent age." Grafton. "Competent statesmen." Palfrey. /"A competent witness." Bouvier.

One who commences a legal process by a complaint.

A formal allegation or charge against a party made or presented to the appropriate court or officer, as for a wrong done or a crime committed (in the latter case, generally under oath); an information; accusation; the initial bill in proceedings in equity.

e of the wedding supper comprehends in it the whole complex of all the blessings and privileges exhibited by the gospel. South. Complex of lines (Geom.), all the possible straight lines in space being considered, the entire system of lines which satisfy a single relation constitute a complex; as, all the lines which me…

being comprehensive; extensiveness of scope. Compare the beauty and comprehensiveness of legends on ancient coins. Addison.

Exculpation by testimony to one's veracity or innocence. He was privileged from his childhood from suspicion of incontinency and needed no compurgation. Bp. Hacket.

To grant, as a right or privilege; to make concession of.

ed; an acknowledgment or admission; a boon; a grant; esp. a grant by government of a privilege or right to do something; as, a concession to build a canal. This is therefore a concession , that he doth . . . believe the Scriptures to be sufficiently plain. Sharp. When a lover becomes satisfied by small compliances with…