Commerce

//ˈkɒm.əs// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A city in Los Angeles County, California, United States.
Noun
  1. 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. 2
    transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services) wordnet
  3. 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. 4
    social exchange, especially of opinions, attitudes, etc. wordnet
  5. 5
    Sexual intercourse. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "carnal commerce"

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 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
  2. 7
    An 18th-century French card game in which the cards are subject to exchange, barter, or trade. countable, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To carry on trade; to traffic. archaic, intransitive

    "[A]lwaies beware you commerce not with bankrupts, […]"

  2. 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.

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