Commerce
Commerce , noun
[French commerce, Latin commercium; com- + merx, mercis, merchandise. See Merchant.]
(Formerly accented on the second syllable.)
1.
The exchange or buying and selling of commodities; esp. the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic.
The public becomes powerful in proportion to the opulence and extensive commerce of private men.
2.
Social intercourse; the dealings of one person or class in society with another; familiarity.
Fifteen years of thought, observation, and commerce with the world had made him [Bunyan] wiser.
3.
Sexual intercourse. — W. Montagu
4.
A round game at cards, in which the cards are subject to exchange, barter, or trade. — Hoyle
Collocations (1)
Chamber of commerce , See Chamber.
Commerce (? o?) , intransitive verb
[Compare French commercer, from Late Latin commerciare.]
1.
To carry on trade; to traffic. [Obsolete]
Beware you commerce not with bankrupts.
2.
To hold intercourse; to commune. — Milton
Commercing with himself.
Musicians... taught the people in angelic harmonies to commerce with heaven.