COMMUTE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Commute

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/kəmjˈut/ Listen

verb

Commute v. t. (past & past part. commuted; pres. part. commuting)

To exchange; to put or substitute something else in place of, as a smaller penalty, obligation, or payment, for a greater, or a single thing for an aggregate; hence, to lessen; to diminish; as, to commute a sentence of death to one of imprisonment for life; to commute tithes; to commute charges for fares. "The sounds water and fire, being once annexed to those two elements, it was certainly more natural to call beings participating of the first "watery", and the last "fiery", than to commute the terms, and call them by the reverse." "The utmost that could be obtained was that her sentence should be commuted from burning to beheading."

Commute v. i.

To obtain or bargain for exemption or substitution; to effect a commutation. "He... thinks it unlawful to commute, and that he is bound to pay his vow in kind."

To pay, or arrange to pay, in gross instead of part by part; as, to commute for a year's travel over a route.

To travel regularly from a place of residence to another place, such as where one's daily work is performed. Often, such travel is performed between a suburb and a nearby city; as, to commute to work.

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Etymology of 'Commute'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Commute" Quotes from Famous Books

... condemned to death for witchcraft, and for the staying of proceedings in several other cases, to remain unnoticed, and without remarking upon the consequences which may ensue. There is also a letter from your secretary of state, declaring your majesty's intention to commute the punishment of these criminals into one of perpetual banishment, and to submit to the opinion of the procureur-general, and of the most learned members of the parliament of Paris, whether, in the matter of witchcraft, the jurisprudence ...

— Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds • Charles Mackay

... particular vow is not to be observed, this is called a "dispensation" from that vow; but if some other obligation be imposed in lieu of that which was to have been observed, the vow is said to be "commuted." Hence it is less to commute a vow than to dispense from a vow: both, however, are in the ...

— Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) • Thomas Aquinas

... acknowledge to have killed a slave, to have assisted at the death of a Jew, and to have drowned an aga, you certainly deserve death; but, on consideration of the excellence of the wine, and the secret which you have imparted to us, I shall commute your sentence. As for the captain and the remainder of the crew, they have been guilty of treachery and piracy on the high seas—a most heinous offence, which deserves instant death; but as it is by their means that we have been put in possession of the wine, I shall be lenient. ...

— The Pacha of Many Tales • Captain Frederick Marryat

... me to commute the capital sentence on Calvi for twenty years' penal servitude. Oh, I am not reminding you of that to drive a bargain," he added eagerly, seeing Monsieur de Granville's expression; "that life should be safe for other ...

— Scenes from a Courtesan's Life • Honore de Balzac

... for decapitation, but with a recommendation to mercy. Next, one Pussort, a malignant tool of the Chancellor, inveighed against Fouquet for four hours, so violently that he injured his case. His voice was for the gallows,—but, in consideration of the criminal's rank, he would consent to commute the cord for the axe. After him, four voted for death; then, five for banishment. Six to six. Anxiety had now reached a distressing point. The Chancellor stormed and threatened; but in vain. On the twenty-fifth of December the result was known. Nine ...

— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 13, No. 78, April, 1864 • Various

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