Chapter Comitial to Commendatary of C by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Comitial to Commendatary

Comitial
(Co*mi"tial) a. [L. comitialis.] Relating to the comitia, or popular assemblies of the Romans for electing officers and passing laws. Middleton.

Comity
(Com"i*ty) n.; pl. Comities [L. comitas, fr. comis courteous, kind.] Mildness and suavity of manners; courtesy between equals; friendly civility; as, comity of manners; the comity of States.

Comity of nations (International Law), the courtesy by which nations recognize within their own territory, or in their courts, the peculiar institutions of another nation or the rights and privileges acquired by its citizens in their own land. By some authorities private international law rests on this comity, but the better opinion is that it is part of the common law of the land, and hence is obligatory as law.

Syn. — Civility; good breeding; courtesy; good will.

Comma
(Com"ma) n. [L. comma part of a sentence, comma, Gr. clause, fr. to cut off. Cf. Capon.]

1. A character or point [,] marking the smallest divisions of a sentence, written or printed.

2. (Mus.) A small interval (the difference between a major and minor half step), seldom used except by tuners.

Comma bacillus (Physiol.), a variety of bacillus shaped like a comma, found in the intestines of patients suffering from cholera. It is considered by some as having a special relation to the disease; — called also cholera bacillus. — Comma butterfly (Zoöl.), an American butterfly having a white comma-shaped marking on the under side of the wings.

Command
(Com*mand") v. t. [imp. & p. p. Commanded; p. pr. & vb. n. Commanding.] [OE. comaunden, commanden, OF. comander, F. commander, fr. L. com- + mandare to commit to, to command. Cf. Commend, Mandate.]

1. To order with authority; to lay injunction upon; to direct; to bid; to charge.

We are commanded to forgive our enemies, but you never read that we are commanded to forgive our friends.
Bacon.

Go to your mistress:
Say, I command her come to me.
Shak.

2. To exercise direct authority over; to have control of; to have at one's disposal; to lead.

Monmouth commanded the English auxiliaries.
Macaulay.

Such aid as I can spare you shall command.
Shak.

3. To have within a sphere of control, influence, access, or vision; to dominate by position; to guard; to overlook.

Bridges commanded by a fortified house.
Motley.

Up to the eastern tower,
Whose height commands as subject all the vale.
Shak.

One side commands a view of the finest garden.
Addison.

4. To have power or influence of the nature of authority over; to obtain as if by ordering; to receive as a due; to challenge; to claim; as, justice commands the respect and affections of the people; the best goods command the best price.

'Tis not in mortals to command success.
Addison.