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Commerce
//ˈkɒm.əs// name, noun, verb
Definitions
Proper Noun
- 1 A city in Los Angeles County, California, United States.
Noun
- 1 The exchange or buying and selling of commodities; especially the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic. countable, uncountable
- 2 transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services) wordnet
- 3 Social intercourse; the dealings of one person or class in society with another; familiarity. countable, uncountable
"[A]ll libertine diſcourſe, and familiarities vvith vvomen, […] nay even friendſhip it ſelfe […] muſt be vvatched vvith great prudence to be kept ſafe: for vvhich cauſe in ſtead of all theſe perillous commerces of our love, I vvill preferre ſo ſecure an object to it, […]"
- 4 social exchange, especially of opinions, attitudes, etc. wordnet
- 5 Sexual intercourse. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"carnal commerce"
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 the United States federal department that promotes and administers domestic and foreign trade (including management of the census and the patent office); created in 1913 wordnet
- 7 An 18th-century French card game in which the cards are subject to exchange, barter, or trade. countable, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To carry on trade; to traffic. archaic, intransitive
"[A]lwaies beware you commerce not with bankrupts, […]"
- 2 To hold conversation; to communicate. archaic, intransitive
"No, sir, he, / Vex'd with a morbid devil in his blood / That veil'd the world with jaundice, hid his face / From all men, and commercing with himself, / He lost the sense that handles daily life— […]"
Etymology
Etymology 1
Borrowed from Middle French commerce, from Latin commercium. Doublet of comess.
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Middle French commerce, from Latin commercium. Doublet of comess.
See also for "commerce"
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