GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Found 2 definitions

1.       
   Commerce (?), n. (Formerly accented on the second syllable.) [F. commerce, L. commercium; com- + merx, mercis, merchandise. See Merchant.]
   1. The exchange or buying and selling of commodities; esp. the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic.
   
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   The public becomes powerful in proportion to the opulence and extensive commerce of private men. Hume.
   
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   2. Social intercourse; the dealings of one person or class in society with another; familiarity.
   
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   Fifteen years of thought, observation, and commerce with the world had made him [Bunyan] wiser. Macaulay.
   
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   3. Sexual intercourse. W. Montagu.
   
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   4. A round game at cards, in which the cards are subject to exchange, barter, or trade. Hoyle.
   
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   Chamber of commerce. See Chamber.
   
   Syn. -- Trade; traffic; dealings; intercourse; interchange; communion; communication.
   
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2.       
   Commerce (? or ?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Commerced (#); p. pr. & vb. n. Commercing.] [Cf. F. commercer, fr. LL. commerciare.]
   1. To carry on trade; to traffic. [Obs.]
   
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   Beware you commerce not with bankrupts. B. Jonson.
   
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   2. To hold intercourse; to commune. Milton.
   
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   Commercing with himself. Tennyson.
   
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   Musicians . . . taught the people in angelic harmonies to commerce with heaven. Prof. Wilson.
   
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