\Com"mons\, n. pl.,
1. The mass of the people, as distinguished from the titled
   classes or nobility; the commonalty; the common people.
   [Eng.]
         'T is like the commons, rude unpolished hinds, Could
         send such message to their sovereign. --Shak.
         The word commons in its present ordinary
         signification comprises all the people who are under
         the rank of peers.                    --Blackstone.
2. The House of Commons, or lower house of the British
   Parliament, consisting of representatives elected by the
   qualified voters of counties, boroughs, and universities.
         It is agreed that the Commons were no part of the
         great council till some ages after the Conquest.
                                               --Hume.
3. Provisions; food; fare, -- as that provided at a common
   table in colleges and universities.
         Their commons, though but coarse, were nothing
         scant.                                --Dryden.
4. A club or association for boarding at a common table, as
   in a college, the members sharing the expenses equally;
   as, to board in commons.
5. A common; public pasture ground.
         To shake his ears, and graze in commons. --Shak.
{Doctors' Commons}, a place near St. Paul's Churchyard in
   London where the doctors of civil law used to common
   together, and where were the ecclesiastical and admiralty
   courts and offices having jurisdiction of marriage
   licenses, divorces, registration of wills, etc.
{To be on short commons}, to have a small allowance of food.
   [Colloq.]