commissary

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English

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Etymology

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From Late Latin commissarius, from commissus, past participle of committō (to commit, entrust to). Doublet of commissar.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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commissary (plural commissaries)

  1. A store primarily serving persons in an institution, most often soldiers or prisoners.
  2. An account which a prisoner uses to buy provisions, or the balance of that account.
    • 2018, Tayari Jones, An American Marriage, Oneworld Publications, page 183:
      “We tried to provide for you while you were in there. We may not have put as much on your commissary as your in-laws, but what we gave was more to us.”
  3. A cafeteria at a movie studio.
  4. One to whom is committed some charge, duty, or office, by a superior power; a commissioner.
    • a. 1631 (date written), J[ohn] Donne, “The Progress of the Soul”, in Poems, [] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: [] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, [], published 1633, →OCLC, stanza IV, page 3:
      Great Deſtiny the Commiſſary of God;
  5. An officer of the bishop, who exercises ecclesiastical jurisdiction in parts of the diocese at a distance from the residence of the bishop.
    • 1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani: Or, A Commentary, by Way of Supplement to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England. [], London: [] D. Leach, and sold by John Walthoe [], →OCLC:
      It has been already hinted , that a Commissary, in Latin stiled Commisarius, is a Title of Ecclefiaftical Jurisdiction
  6. An officer who supplies provisions to an army.
  7. (Scots law) The judge in a commissary court.
  8. A higher-ranking police officer.

Coordinate terms

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(military shop):

Derived terms

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Translations

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