commission

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   A sending or mission (to do or accomplish something).

2. 2

   An official charge or authority to do something, often used of military officers.

   • David received his commission after graduating from West Point.
   • Let him see our commission.
   • This is an exact Inventory of what we found about the Body of the Man-Mountain, who uſed us with great Civility, and due Reſpect to your Majeſty's Commiſſion.
3. 3

   The thing to be done as agent for another.

   • I have three commissions for the city.
4. ›+ 7 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      A body or group of people, officially tasked with carrying out a particular function.

      • the European Commission
      • the Electoral Commission
      • the Federal Communications Commission
   2. 5

      A fee charged by an agent or broker for carrying out a transaction.

      • a reseller's commission
      • [T]he scandal was the pretty common one of a corrupt agreement between hotel proprietors and a salesman who took and gave secret commissions, so that his business had a monopoly of all the drink sold in the place.
   3. 6

      The act of committing (e.g. a crime or error).

      • the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism
      • Every commission of sin introduces into the soul a certain degree of hardness.
   4. 7

      To send or officially charge someone or some group to do something.

      • James Bond was commissioned with recovering the secret documents.
      • Stanning, who was commissioned from Sandhurst in 2008 and has served in Afghanistan, is not the first solider^([sic – meaning soldier]) to bail out the organisers at these Games but will be among the most celebrated.
   5. 8

      To place an order for (often a piece of art).

      • He commissioned a replica of the Mona Lisa for his living room, but the painter gave up after six months.
   6. 9

      To put (a ship or boat, etc.) into active service.

      • The aircraft carrier was commissioned in 1944, during WWII.
      • The 1.7 mile-long conveyor system was commissioned in November 2022, and will remove one million lorry movements from the roads around West London.
   7. 10

      A shirt or chemise.

      • As from our beds, we doe oft cast our eyes, / Cleane linnen yeelds a shirt before we rise, / Which is a garment shifting in condition; / And in the canting tongue is a commission.

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