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A chief; one who has supreme authority; a leader; the chief officer of an army, or of any division of it. A leader and commander to the people. Is. lv. 4.

The first existence of anything; act or fact of commencing; rise; origin; beginnig; start. The time of Henry VII . . . nearly coincides with the commencement of what is termed "modern history."

The duty or employment intrusted to any person or persons; a trust; a charge.

very duty of political friendship, without commiting the honor of your sovereign. Junius. Any sudden assent to the proposal . . . might possibly be considered as committing the faith of the United States. Marshall.

One or more 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 res…

being mingled; the blending of ingredients in one mass or compound. In the commixture of anything that is more oily or sweet, such bodies are least apt to putrefy. Bacon.

heart-felt enjoyment of common life. W. Irving. This fact was infamous And ill beseeming any common man, Much more a knight, a captain and a leader. Shak. Above the vulgar flight of common souls. A. Murpphy.

The right of pasturing on a common; the right of using anything in common with others. The claim of comonage . . . in most of the forests. Burke.

One sharing with another in anything. [Obs.] Fuller.

Agitation, perturbation, or disorder, of mind; heat; excitement. "He could not debate anything without some commotion." Clarendon.

To make known; to recount; to give; to impart; as, to communicate information to any one.

Fellowship; association; the act or fact of keeping company with any one. Shak. He never seemed to avail himself of my sympathy other than by mere companionship. W. Irwing

, those which are based on a comprehensive comparison of the range of objects or facts in any branch or department, and which aim to study out and treat of the fundamental laws or systems of relation pervading them; as, comparative anatomy, comparative physiology, comparative philology.

An instrument or machine for comparing anything to be measured with a standard measure; -- applied especially to a machine for comparing standards of length.

Having a temper or disposition to pity; sympathetic; merciful. There never was any heart truly great and generous, that was not also tender and compassionate. South.

.] That is the privillege of the infinite Author of things, . . . but is not competent to any finite being. Locke.

Divided into squares of alternate tinctures in a single row; -- said of any bearing; or, in the case of a bearing having curved lines, divided into patches of alternate colors following the curve. If there are two rows it is called counter-compony.

The invention or combination of the parts of any literary work or discourse, or of a work of art; as, the composition of a poem or a piece of music. "The constant habit of elaborate composition." Macaulay.

omprise; to imply. Comprehended all in this one word, Discretion. Hobbes. And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying. Rom. xiii. 9.

of being comprehended, included, or comprised. Lest this part of knowledge should seem to any not comprehensible by axiom, we will set down some heads of it. Bacon.