Com*mence" (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Commenced (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Commencing.] [F. commencer, OF. commencier, fr. L. com- + initiare to begin. See Initiate.]

1.

To have a beginning or origin; to originate; to start; to begin.

Here the anthem doth commence. Shak.

His heaven commences ere the world be past. Goldsmith.

2.

To begin to be, or to act as.

[Archaic]

We commence judges ourselves. Coleridge.

3.

To take a degree at a university.

[Eng.]

I question whether the formality of commencing was used in that age. Fuller.

 

© Webster 1913.


Com*mence", v. t.

To enter upon; to begin; to perform the first act of.

Many a wooer doth commence his suit. Shak.

⇒ It is the practice of good writers to use the verbal noun (instead of the infinitive with to) after commence; as, he commenced studying, not he commenced to study.

 

© Webster 1913.