\Com"mon\, a. [Compar. {Commoner}; superl. {Commonest}.]
[OE. commun, comon, OF. comun, F. commun, fr. L. communis;
com- + munis ready to be of service; cf. Skr. mi to make
fast, set up, build, Goth. gamains common, G. gemein, and E.
mean low, common. Cf. {Immunity}, {Commune}, n. & v.]
1. Belonging or relating equally, or similarly, to more than
   one; as, you and I have a common interest in the property.
         Though life and sense be common to men and brutes.
                                               --Sir M. Hale.
2. Belonging to or shared by, affecting or serving, all the
   members of a class, considered together; general; public;
   as, properties common to all plants; the common schools;
   the Book of Common Prayer.
         Such actions as the common good requireth. --Hooker.
         The common enemy of man.              --Shak.
3. Often met with; usual; frequent; customary.
         Grief more than common grief.         --Shak.
4. Not distinguished or exceptional; inconspicuous; ordinary;
   plebeian; -- often in a depreciatory sense.
         The honest, heart-felt enjoyment of common life.
                                               --W. Irving.
         This fact was infamous And ill beseeming any common
         man, Much more a knight, a captain and a leader.
                                               --Shak.
         Above the vulgar flight of common souls. --A.
                                               Murphy.
5. Profane; polluted. [Obs.]
         What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
                                               --Acts x. 15.
6. Given to habits of lewdness; prostitute.
         A dame who herself was common.        --L'Estrange.
{Common bar} (Law) Same as {Blank bar}, under {Blank}.
{Common barrator} (Law), one who makes a business of
   instigating litigation.
{Common Bench}, a name sometimes given to the English Court
   of Common Pleas.
{Common brawler} (Law), one addicted to public brawling and
   quarreling. See {Brawler}.
{Common carrier} (Law), one who undertakes the office of
   carrying (goods or persons) for hire. Such a carrier is
   bound to carry in all cases when he has accommodation, and
   when his fixed price is tendered, and he is liable for all
   losses and injuries to the goods, except those which
   happen in consequence of the act of God, or of the enemies
   of the country, or of the owner of the property himself.
{Common chord} (Mus.), a chord consisting of the fundamental
   tone, with its third and fifth.
{Common council}, the representative (legislative) body, or
   the lower branch of the representative body, of a city or
   other municipal corporation.
{Common crier}, the crier of a town or city.
{Common divisor} (Math.), a number or quantity that divides
   two or more numbers or quantities without a remainder; a
   common measure.
{Common gender} (Gram.), the gender comprising words that may
   be of either the masculine or the feminine gender.
{Common law}, a system of jurisprudence developing under the
   guidance of the courts so as to apply a consistent and
   reasonable rule to each litigated case. It may be
   superseded by statute, but unless superseded it controls.
   --Wharton.
Note: It is by others defined as the unwritten law
      (especially of England), the law that receives its
      binding force from immemorial usage and universal
      reception, as ascertained and expressed in the
      judgments of the courts. This term is often used in
      contradistinction from {statute law}. Many use it to
      designate a law common to the whole country. It is also
      used to designate the whole body of English (or other)
      law, as distinguished from its subdivisions, local,
      civil, admiralty, equity, etc. See {Law}.
{Common lawyer}, one versed in common law.
{Common lewdness} (Law), the habitual performance of lewd
   acts in public.
{Common multiple} (Arith.) See under {Multiple}.
{Common noun} (Gram.), the name of any one of a class of
   objects, as distinguished from a proper noun (the name of
   a particular person or thing).
{Common nuisance} (Law), that which is deleterious to the
   health or comfort or sense of decency of the community at
   large.
{Common pleas}, one of the three superior courts of common
   law at Westminster, presided over by a chief justice and
   four puisne judges. Its jurisdiction is confined to civil
   matters. Courts bearing this title exist in several of the
   United States, having, however, in some cases, both civil
   and criminal jurisdiction extending over the whole State.
   In other States the jurisdiction of the common pleas is
   limited to a county, and it is sometimes called a {county
   court}. Its powers are generally defined by statute.
{Common prayer}, the liturgy of the Church of England, or of
   the Protestant Episcopal church of the United States,
   which all its clergy are enjoined to use. It is contained
   in the Book of Common Prayer.
{Common school}, a school maintained at the public expense,
   and open to all.
{Common scold} (Law), a woman addicted to scolding
   indiscriminately, in public.
{Common seal}, a seal adopted and used by a corporation.
{Common sense}.
   (a) A supposed sense which was held to be the common bond
       of all the others. [Obs.] --Trench.
   (b) Sound judgment. See under {Sense}.
{Common time} (Mus.), that variety of time in which the
   measure consists of two or of four equal portions.
{In common}, equally with another, or with others; owned,
   shared, or used, in community with others; affecting or
   affected equally.
{Out of the common}, uncommon; extraordinary.
{Tenant in common}, one holding real or personal property in
   common with others, having distinct but undivided
   interests. See {Joint tenant}, under {Joint}.
{To make common cause with}, to join or ally one's self with.
Syn: General; public; popular; national; universal; frequent;
     ordinary; customary; usual; familiar; habitual; vulgar;
     mean; trite; stale; threadbare; commonplace. See
     {Mutual}, {Ordinary}, {General}.

\Com"mon\, n.
1. The people; the community. [Obs.] ``The weal o' the
   common.'' --Shak.
2. An inclosed or uninclosed tract of ground for pleasure,
   for pasturage, etc., the use of which belongs to the
   public; or to a number of persons.
3. (Law) The right of taking a profit in the land of another,
   in common either with the owner or with other persons; --
   so called from the community of interest which arises
   between the claimant of the right and the owner of the
   soil, or between the claimants and other commoners
   entitled to the same right.
{Common appendant}, a right belonging to the owners or
   occupiers of arable land to put commonable beasts upon the
   waste land in the manor where they dwell.
{Common appurtenant}, a similar right applying to lands in
   other manors, or extending to other beasts, besides those
   which are generally commonable, as hogs.
{Common because of} {vicinage or neighborhood}, the right of
   the inhabitants of each of two townships, lying contiguous
   to each other, which have usually intercommoned with one
   another, to let their beasts stray into the other's
   fields. -
{Common} {in gross or at large}, a common annexed to a man's
   person, being granted to him and his heirs by deed; or it
   may be claimed by prescriptive right, as by a parson of a
   church or other corporation sole. --Blackstone.
{Common of estovers}, the right of taking wood from another's
   estate.
{Common of pasture}, the right of feeding beasts on the land
   of another. --Burill.
{Common of piscary}, the right of fishing in waters belonging
   to another.
{Common of turbary}, the right of digging turf upon the
   ground of another.

\Com"mon\, v. i.
1. To converse together; to discourse; to confer. [Obs.]
         Embassadors were sent upon both parts, and divers
         means of entreaty were commoned of.   --Grafton.
2. To participate. [Obs.] --Sir T. More.
3. To have a joint right with others in common ground.
   --Johnson.
4. To board together; to eat at a table in common.