Category:Commence

Com*mence", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Commenced; p. pr. & vb. n. Commencing.] Etym: [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.

commence Com*mence", v. t.

Defn: To enter upon; to begin; to perform the first act of. Many a wooer doth commence his suit. Shak.

Note: 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.