Com"mons (?), n. pl.,
1. The mass of the people, as distinguished
from the titled classes or nobility; the commonalty; the common
people. [Eng.]
'T is like the commons, rude unpolished
hinds,
Could send such message to their sovereign.
Shak.
The word commons in its present ordinary
signification comprises all the people who are under the rank of
peers.
Blackstone.
2. The House of Commons, or lower house
of the British Parliament, consisting of representatives elected
by the qualified voters of counties, boroughs, and
universities.
It is agreed that the Commons were no part
of the great council till some ages after the Conquest.
Hume.
3. Provisions; food; fare, -- as that
provided at a common table in colleges and
universities.
Their commons, though but coarse, were
nothing scant.
Dryden.
4. A club or association for boarding at
a common table, as in a college, the members sharing the expenses
equally; as, to board in commons.
5. A common; public pasture
ground.
To shake his ears, and graze in
commons.
Shak.
Doctors' Commons, a place near St.
Paul's Churchyard in London where the doctors of civil law used
to common together, and where were the ecclesiastical and
admiralty courts and offices having jurisdiction of marriage
licenses, divorces, registration of wills, etc. --
To be on short commons, to have a small
allowance of food. [Colloq.]