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To start, here's the entry from the Oxford English Dictionary:
I. The quality of being just.
1. The quality of being (morally) just or righteous; the principle of just dealing; the exhibition of this quality or principle in action; just conduct; integrity, rectitude. (One of the four cardinal virtues.)
COMMUTATIVE, DISTRIBUTIVE justice: see these words.
{dag}2. Theol. Observance of the divine law; righteousness; the state of being righteous or ‘just before God’. Obs.
3. Conformity (of an action or thing) to moral right, or to reason, truth, or fact; rightfulness; fairness; correctness; propriety; = JUSTNESS 2, 3.
{dag}b. Just claim, right (to something). Obs.
II. Judicial administration of law or equity.
4. Exercise of authority or power in maintenance of right; vindication of right by assignment of reward or punishment; requital of desert.
poetical justice: the ideal justice in distribution of rewards and punishments supposed to befit a poem or other work of imagination.
5. The administration of law, or the forms and processes attending it; judicial proceedings; {dag}in early use, Legal proceedings of any kind (obs.).
bed of j., college of j., court of j.: see BED 7, COLLEGE 1c., COURT 11. High Court of Justice: see quot. 1873.
{dag}b. The persons administering the law; a judicial assembly, court of justice. Obs. (In early quots. difficult to separate from pl. of sense 8.)
{dag}c. Judicial authority, jurisdiction. Obs.
d. In colloq. phrases, as Jedwood or Jeddart (= Jedburgh) justice, trial after execution. Similarly {dag}Cupar justice. justices' justice, an ironical expression for the kind of justice administered by petty magistrates, esp. when marked by disproportionate severity.
{dag}6. Infliction of punishment, legal vengeance on an offender; esp. capital punishment; execution. to do justice on or upon (of), to punish, esp. by death. Obs.
{dag}b. A place or instrument of execution; a gallows. Obs.
7. Personified, esp. in sense 4: often represented in art as a goddess holding balanced scales or a sword, sometimes also with veiled eyes, betokening impartiality. (= L. Justitia.)
III. An administrator of justice.
The name Justitia was applied (in the 11th cent.) in a general way to persons charged with the administration of the law, esp. to the sheriffs; it was subsequently limited to the president or one of the members of the Curia Regis, out of which the courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer were developed. These judges were specifically denominated justices itinerant, in eyre, of assize, of oyer and terminer, of jail delivery, etc.: see these words. In the Court of Exchequer (which had a peculiar history) they were termed barons.
8. generally. A judicial officer; a judge; a magistrate.
9. spec. In Great Britain and the United States: A member of the judicature. a. A judge presiding over or belonging to one of the superior courts, spec., in England, one of the courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer; since the consolidation of the courts in 1875, a member of the Supreme Court of Judicature; formerly applied also to various officers exercising special judicial functions, as the commissioners who governed Ireland during the absence of the Lord Lieutenant or the vacancy of that office.
High Justice (in quot.2 1297) = JUSTICIAR 1. Chief Justice or Lord Chief Justice, formerly, the title of the judges presiding over each of the courts of King's Bench and of Common Pleas; both offices are now merged under the title of Lord Chief Justice of England. The judges of the Court of Appeal are called Lords Justices, and have the style of Right Honourable; a judge of the High Court of Justice is called Mr. Justice, and has the style of Honourable. In the United States Chief Justice is the designation of the presiding judge in the U.S. Supreme Court, and in the supreme court of each state. So elsewhere in places formerly or still under British influence. See also JUSTICE-CLERK, JUSTICE-GENERAL.
b. A justice of the peace (see next) or other inferior magistrate; esp. in pl. the Justices.
10. Justice of the peace ({dag}Justice of peace): an inferior magistrate appointed to preserve the peace in a county, town, or other district, and discharge other local magisterial functions. Abbreviated J.P. Hence {dag}Justice-of-peaceship.
Justices of the peace were instituted in England in 1327, and are appointed by the sovereign's special commission, directing them, jointly and severally, to keep the peace in the area named. Their principal duties consist in committing offenders to trial before a judge and jury when satisfied that there is a primâ facie case against them, convicting and punishing summarily in minor causes, granting licenses, and acting, if County Justices, as judges at Quarter Sessions. See also QUORUM.
IV. Phrases and combinations.
11. Phrase. to do justice to (a person or thing): a. to render (one) what is his due, or vindicate his just claims; to treat (one) fairly by acknowledging his merits or the like; hence, To treat (a subject or thing) in a manner showing due appreciation, to deal with (it) as is right or fitting. to do oneself justice, to perform something one has to do in a manner worthy of one's abilities.
{dag}b. To pledge in drinking. Obs.
12. attrib. and Comb.: attrib., as justice-box, -business, -day, -hall, -height, -hill, -parson, -room; objective, etc., as justice-maker; justice-dealing, -like, -loving, -proof, -slighting adjs.; justice-broker, a magistrate who ‘sells’ justice; {dag}justice-court, a court of justice; spec. the Court of Justiciary; justice-eyre (-air): see EYRE ; justice-seat, seat of justice, judgement-seat; spec. (see quot. 1641).
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Illegal
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To start, here's the entry from the Oxford English Dictionary:
A. adj.
1. a. Not legal or lawful; contrary to, or forbidden by, law.
{dag}b. Lawless, irregular. Obs. rare.
2. Special Comb.: illegal immigrant, orig. a Jew who entered or attempted to enter Palestine without official permission during the later years of the British mandate; now used more generally; so illegal immigration; illegal operation, an abortion procured illegally.
B. n.
1. = illegal immigrant.
2. A Soviet secret agent working in a foreign country.
To start, here's the entry from the Oxford English Dictionary:
A. adj.
1. a. Not legal or lawful; contrary to, or forbidden by, law.
{dag}b. Lawless, irregular. Obs. rare.
2. Special Comb.: illegal immigrant, orig. a Jew who entered or attempted to enter Palestine without official permission during the later years of the British mandate; now used more generally; so illegal immigration; illegal operation, an abortion procured illegally.
B. n.
1. = illegal immigrant.
2. A Soviet secret agent working in a foreign country.
Art
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To start, there are many entries in the Oxford English Dictionary for the word "art." Here is the beginning of the first entry:
I. Skill; its display, application, or expression.
1. Skill in doing something, esp. as the result of knowledge or practice.
{dag}2. Skill in the practical application of the principles of a particular field of knowledge or learning; technical skill. Obs.
3. As a count noun.
a. A practical application of knowledge; (hence) something which can be achieved or understood by the employment of skill and knowledge; (in early use also) a body or system of rules serving to facilitate the carrying out of certain principles.
b. A practical pursuit or trade of a skilled nature, a craft; an activity that can be achieved or mastered by the application of specialist skills; (also) any one of the useful arts (see sense 4b). Cf. art and mystery n. at MYSTERY n.2 2c.
c. A company of craftsmen; a guild. Cf. MYSTERY n.2 3. Now hist. (freq. with reference to Italy).
4. With modifying word or words denoting skill in a particular craft, profession, or other sphere of activity.
a. With a genitive or genitive phrase, as ‘the writer's art’, ‘the art of government’.
the art of love n. [frequently with reference to Latin Ars Amatoria, the title of a work by Ovid; compare also Anglo-Norman art d’amur (13th cent.)] the skill or technique of seduction and lovemaking.
b. With an adjective. In modern use freq. in pl. Cf. also sense 7, and FINE ART n. 1.
The adjective is freq. used (esp. in early use) as postmodifier, perh. in imitation of Latin expressions.
black, healing, magic, military art, etc.: see the first element; similarly see also industrial, mechanic, mechanical, useful arts, etc.
5. An acquired ability of any kind; a skill at doing a specified thing, typically acquired through study and practice; a knack. Freq. in the art of {emem}.
6. Skill in an activity regarded as governed by aesthetic as well as organizational principles. Now rare.
The range of activities covered include the visual arts such as painting, drawing, and sculpture, and also other creative arts such as music, literature, dance, drama, and oratory.
7. As a count noun. Any of various pursuits or occupations in which creative or imaginative skill is applied according to aesthetic principles (formerly often defined in terms of ‘taste’ (TASTE n.1 8)); (in pl. with the, sometimes personified) the various branches of creative activity, as painting, sculpture, music, literature, dance, drama, oratory, etc.
Cf. arts of design at DESIGN n. 8, applied arts at APPLIED adj. 3a, elegant arts n. at ELEGANT adj. 7, FINE ART n. 1, performing arts n. at PERFORMING n. Compounds. See also MARTIAL ART n.
8. a. The expression or application of creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting, drawing, or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. Also: such works themselves considered collectively. Cf. a work of art at WORK n. 14.
Although this is the most usual modern sense of art when used without any qualification, it has not been found in English dictionaries until the 19th cent. Before then, it seems to have been used chiefly by painters and writers on painting.
The unmodified mass noun it is normally understood as referring to the visual arts; however, it may sometimes to extended to include music, literature, dance, drama, etc., though the plural form arts (see sense 7) is frequently used to indicate a broader range of creative activities.
Various styles of art are distinguished by descriptive nouns and adjectives identifying location, function, medium, object, etc.: body, cave, clip-, computer, folk-, high, op, performance art, etc.; modern, New, nouveau art, etc. (see the first element); see also ABSTRACT adj. 4d and REPRESENTATIONAL adj. 3.
b. The theory and practice of the visual arts as a subject of study or examination; (also) a class or lesson in art.
II. Senses relating to learning or study.
9. a. In pl. Certain branches of study, esp. at a university, serving as a preparation for more advanced studies or for later life, spec. (a) (in the Middle Ages) the seven subjects forming the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the more advanced quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy) (now hist.); (b) (in later use) a broad range of subjects, varying according to time and place but now generally taken as including languages, literature, philosophy, history, and other areas of study concerned with the processes and products of human culture and thought (cf. HUMANITY n. 2.).
Also known as the free or (now more commonly) liberal arts, from the idea that these were the subjects of study considered worthy of a free man (see LIBERAL adj. 2, and cf. SERVILE adj. 1b).
Freq. in the names of degrees (as Bachelor and Master of Arts) awarded to those who attain a prescribed standard of proficiency (although by convention, many universities award such degrees to graduates in subjects not traditionally regarded as belonging to the ‘arts’ faculties).
b. In sing. Any of these subjects of study individually, esp. one of those forming the trivium and quadrivium (now hist.).
10. {dag}a. The seven subjects of the trivium and quadrivium considered collectively; the liberal arts. Obs.
In quot. ?a1425: rhetoric.
{dag}b. gen. Scholarship, learning. Obs. (arch. in later use).
c. term of art n. (also word of art (now rare)) a word or phrase used in a precise sense in a particular subject or field; a technical term. Freq. in pl.
III. Crafty or cunning conduct; human or artificial agency.
11. a. Cunning; artfulness; trickery, pretence; conduct or action which seeks to attain its ends by artificial, indirect, or covert means.
b. A stratagem, wile, or cunning device; a contrivance. Chiefly in pl.
{dag}12. a. Human workmanship or agency; human skill as an agent. Opposed to nature (or, in early use, kind). Obs.
b. Artificial agency or assistance. Obs. rare.
To start, there are many entries in the Oxford English Dictionary for the word "art." Here is the beginning of the first entry:
I. Skill; its display, application, or expression.
1. Skill in doing something, esp. as the result of knowledge or practice.
{dag}2. Skill in the practical application of the principles of a particular field of knowledge or learning; technical skill. Obs.
3. As a count noun.
a. A practical application of knowledge; (hence) something which can be achieved or understood by the employment of skill and knowledge; (in early use also) a body or system of rules serving to facilitate the carrying out of certain principles.
b. A practical pursuit or trade of a skilled nature, a craft; an activity that can be achieved or mastered by the application of specialist skills; (also) any one of the useful arts (see sense 4b). Cf. art and mystery n. at MYSTERY n.2 2c.
c. A company of craftsmen; a guild. Cf. MYSTERY n.2 3. Now hist. (freq. with reference to Italy).
4. With modifying word or words denoting skill in a particular craft, profession, or other sphere of activity.
a. With a genitive or genitive phrase, as ‘the writer's art’, ‘the art of government’.
the art of love n. [frequently with reference to Latin Ars Amatoria, the title of a work by Ovid; compare also Anglo-Norman art d’amur (13th cent.)] the skill or technique of seduction and lovemaking.
b. With an adjective. In modern use freq. in pl. Cf. also sense 7, and FINE ART n. 1.
The adjective is freq. used (esp. in early use) as postmodifier, perh. in imitation of Latin expressions.
black, healing, magic, military art, etc.: see the first element; similarly see also industrial, mechanic, mechanical, useful arts, etc.
5. An acquired ability of any kind; a skill at doing a specified thing, typically acquired through study and practice; a knack. Freq. in the art of {emem}.
6. Skill in an activity regarded as governed by aesthetic as well as organizational principles. Now rare.
The range of activities covered include the visual arts such as painting, drawing, and sculpture, and also other creative arts such as music, literature, dance, drama, and oratory.
7. As a count noun. Any of various pursuits or occupations in which creative or imaginative skill is applied according to aesthetic principles (formerly often defined in terms of ‘taste’ (TASTE n.1 8)); (in pl. with the, sometimes personified) the various branches of creative activity, as painting, sculpture, music, literature, dance, drama, oratory, etc.
Cf. arts of design at DESIGN n. 8, applied arts at APPLIED adj. 3a, elegant arts n. at ELEGANT adj. 7, FINE ART n. 1, performing arts n. at PERFORMING n. Compounds. See also MARTIAL ART n.
8. a. The expression or application of creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting, drawing, or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. Also: such works themselves considered collectively. Cf. a work of art at WORK n. 14.
Although this is the most usual modern sense of art when used without any qualification, it has not been found in English dictionaries until the 19th cent. Before then, it seems to have been used chiefly by painters and writers on painting.
The unmodified mass noun it is normally understood as referring to the visual arts; however, it may sometimes to extended to include music, literature, dance, drama, etc., though the plural form arts (see sense 7) is frequently used to indicate a broader range of creative activities.
Various styles of art are distinguished by descriptive nouns and adjectives identifying location, function, medium, object, etc.: body, cave, clip-, computer, folk-, high, op, performance art, etc.; modern, New, nouveau art, etc. (see the first element); see also ABSTRACT adj. 4d and REPRESENTATIONAL adj. 3.
b. The theory and practice of the visual arts as a subject of study or examination; (also) a class or lesson in art.
II. Senses relating to learning or study.
9. a. In pl. Certain branches of study, esp. at a university, serving as a preparation for more advanced studies or for later life, spec. (a) (in the Middle Ages) the seven subjects forming the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the more advanced quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy) (now hist.); (b) (in later use) a broad range of subjects, varying according to time and place but now generally taken as including languages, literature, philosophy, history, and other areas of study concerned with the processes and products of human culture and thought (cf. HUMANITY n. 2.).
Also known as the free or (now more commonly) liberal arts, from the idea that these were the subjects of study considered worthy of a free man (see LIBERAL adj. 2, and cf. SERVILE adj. 1b).
Freq. in the names of degrees (as Bachelor and Master of Arts) awarded to those who attain a prescribed standard of proficiency (although by convention, many universities award such degrees to graduates in subjects not traditionally regarded as belonging to the ‘arts’ faculties).
b. In sing. Any of these subjects of study individually, esp. one of those forming the trivium and quadrivium (now hist.).
10. {dag}a. The seven subjects of the trivium and quadrivium considered collectively; the liberal arts. Obs.
In quot. ?a1425: rhetoric.
{dag}b. gen. Scholarship, learning. Obs. (arch. in later use).
c. term of art n. (also word of art (now rare)) a word or phrase used in a precise sense in a particular subject or field; a technical term. Freq. in pl.
III. Crafty or cunning conduct; human or artificial agency.
11. a. Cunning; artfulness; trickery, pretence; conduct or action which seeks to attain its ends by artificial, indirect, or covert means.
b. A stratagem, wile, or cunning device; a contrivance. Chiefly in pl.
{dag}12. a. Human workmanship or agency; human skill as an agent. Opposed to nature (or, in early use, kind). Obs.
b. Artificial agency or assistance. Obs. rare.
Identity
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To start, here's the entry from the Oxford English Dictionary:
1. a. The quality or condition of being the same in substance, composition, nature, properties, or in particular qualities under consideration; absolute or essential sameness; oneness.
absolute identity, that asserted in the metaphysical doctrine of Schelling that mind and matter are phenomenal modifications of the same substance.
b. with an and pl. An instance of this quality.
{dag}c. Recurrence of the same; repetition. Obs.
2. a. The sameness of a person or thing at all times or in all circumstances; the condition or fact that a person or thing is itself and not something else; individuality, personality.
personal identity (in Psychology), the condition or fact of remaining the same person throughout the various phases of existence; continuity of the personality.
b. Personal or individual existence. rare. ?Obs.
{dag}3. ‘The self-same thing.’ Obs. rare.
4. Alg. a. The equality of two expressions for all values of the literal quantities: distinctively denoted by the sign {ident}. b. An equation expressing identity, an identical equation (IDENTICAL 4a).
5. The condition of being identified in feeling, interest, etc. rare.
6. Logic. Law or Principle of Identity, the principle expressed in the identical proposition A is A. Also attrib., as identity formula, relation, sentence.
7. (old) identity: a person long resident or well known in a place. N.Z. and Austral.
8. Math. a. An element of a set which, if combined with any element by a (specified) binary operation, leaves the latter element unchanged.
b. A transformation that gives rise to the same elements as those to which it is applied.
9. S. Afr. (See quot. 1924.)
10. a. attrib. and Comb. with the meaning ‘that serves to identify the holder or wearer’, as identity bracelet, card, certificate, disc, papers, patch; also identity element Math. = IDENTITY 8a; identity matrix Math., a matrix in which all the elements of the principal diagonal are one and the remainder zero, so that its product with another matrix gives that matrix; identity parade = identification parade.
b. Philos. attrib. and Comb. as identity doctrine, sign, thesis; identity theory, the materialist theory that physiological and mental perceptions are identical; hence identity theorist, a person professing belief in the identity theory.
c. Belonging or relating to identity (sense 2), as in identity crisis, a phase of varying severity undergone by an individual in his need to establish his identity in relation to his associates and society as part of the process of maturing. Also transf.
DRAFT ADDITIONS SEPTEMBER 2007
identity, n.
* identity theft n. the dishonest acquisition of personal information in order to perpetrate fraud, typically by obtaining credit, loans, etc., in someone else's name; fraud perpetrated in this way; (also) an instance of this.
In quot. 1964 in the context of espionage rather than fraud for monetary gain.
To start, here's the entry from the Oxford English Dictionary:
1. a. The quality or condition of being the same in substance, composition, nature, properties, or in particular qualities under consideration; absolute or essential sameness; oneness.
absolute identity, that asserted in the metaphysical doctrine of Schelling that mind and matter are phenomenal modifications of the same substance.
b. with an and pl. An instance of this quality.
{dag}c. Recurrence of the same; repetition. Obs.
2. a. The sameness of a person or thing at all times or in all circumstances; the condition or fact that a person or thing is itself and not something else; individuality, personality.
personal identity (in Psychology), the condition or fact of remaining the same person throughout the various phases of existence; continuity of the personality.
b. Personal or individual existence. rare. ?Obs.
{dag}3. ‘The self-same thing.’ Obs. rare.
4. Alg. a. The equality of two expressions for all values of the literal quantities: distinctively denoted by the sign {ident}. b. An equation expressing identity, an identical equation (IDENTICAL 4a).
5. The condition of being identified in feeling, interest, etc. rare.
6. Logic. Law or Principle of Identity, the principle expressed in the identical proposition A is A. Also attrib., as identity formula, relation, sentence.
7. (old) identity: a person long resident or well known in a place. N.Z. and Austral.
8. Math. a. An element of a set which, if combined with any element by a (specified) binary operation, leaves the latter element unchanged.
b. A transformation that gives rise to the same elements as those to which it is applied.
9. S. Afr. (See quot. 1924.)
10. a. attrib. and Comb. with the meaning ‘that serves to identify the holder or wearer’, as identity bracelet, card, certificate, disc, papers, patch; also identity element Math. = IDENTITY 8a; identity matrix Math., a matrix in which all the elements of the principal diagonal are one and the remainder zero, so that its product with another matrix gives that matrix; identity parade = identification parade.
b. Philos. attrib. and Comb. as identity doctrine, sign, thesis; identity theory, the materialist theory that physiological and mental perceptions are identical; hence identity theorist, a person professing belief in the identity theory.
c. Belonging or relating to identity (sense 2), as in identity crisis, a phase of varying severity undergone by an individual in his need to establish his identity in relation to his associates and society as part of the process of maturing. Also transf.
DRAFT ADDITIONS SEPTEMBER 2007
identity, n.
* identity theft n. the dishonest acquisition of personal information in order to perpetrate fraud, typically by obtaining credit, loans, etc., in someone else's name; fraud perpetrated in this way; (also) an instance of this.
In quot. 1964 in the context of espionage rather than fraud for monetary gain.
Commodity
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To start, here's the entry from the Oxford English Dictionary:
{dag}1. a. As a quality or condition of things, in relation to the desires or needs of men, etc.: The quality of being ‘commodious’; conveniency, suitability, fitting utility; commodiousness. Obs.
{dag}b. Convenient access to or supply of. Obs.
2. As a property of the person, etc., affected: a. Convenience. Obs. or arch.
{dag}b. Expediency. Obs.
{dag}c. Advantage, benefit, profit, interest: often in the sense of private or selfish interest. Obs.
{dag}d. concr. Profit, gain.
3. (with a and pl.) A convenience, advantage, benefit, interest. Obs. or arch.
{dag}4. Convenient juncture of events; opportunity, occasion. Obs.
5. concr. A thing of ‘commodity’, a thing of use or advantage to mankind; esp. in pl. useful products, material advantages, elements of wealth.
6. a. spec. in Comm. A kind of thing produced for use or sale, an article of commerce, an object of trade; in pl. goods, merchandise, wares, produce. Now esp. food or raw materials, as objects of trade. staple commodity: leading article of trade.
b. fig. and transf. Anything that one ‘trades’ or ‘deals’ in.
{dag}7. a. A quantity of wares, parcel, ‘lot’. Also fig.
{dag}b. spec. in 16-17th c.: A parcel of goods sold on credit by a usurer to a needy person, who immediately raised some cash by re-selling them at a lower price, generally to the usurer himself (see D'Israeli Cur. Lit., Usury).
An accommodation of this kind, designed to evade the usury laws, in which the goods were trumpery, was known as a commodity of brown paper, or the like: see Nares. to take (clap) up a commodity: to obtain such an accommodation.
8. attrib., as commodity agreement, control, fetishism, market, price; commodity dollar U.S., a proposed unit of a form of currency the gold value of which is determined by the current market prices of certain basic commodities; also attrib.; commodity exchange, an organized market for the bulk purchase of certain commodities, a commodity market; commodity rate, a special rate charged by railways for transportation of particular commodities within a specified area.
To start, here's the entry from the Oxford English Dictionary:
{dag}1. a. As a quality or condition of things, in relation to the desires or needs of men, etc.: The quality of being ‘commodious’; conveniency, suitability, fitting utility; commodiousness. Obs.
{dag}b. Convenient access to or supply of. Obs.
2. As a property of the person, etc., affected: a. Convenience. Obs. or arch.
{dag}b. Expediency. Obs.
{dag}c. Advantage, benefit, profit, interest: often in the sense of private or selfish interest. Obs.
{dag}d. concr. Profit, gain.
3. (with a and pl.) A convenience, advantage, benefit, interest. Obs. or arch.
{dag}4. Convenient juncture of events; opportunity, occasion. Obs.
5. concr. A thing of ‘commodity’, a thing of use or advantage to mankind; esp. in pl. useful products, material advantages, elements of wealth.
6. a. spec. in Comm. A kind of thing produced for use or sale, an article of commerce, an object of trade; in pl. goods, merchandise, wares, produce. Now esp. food or raw materials, as objects of trade. staple commodity: leading article of trade.
b. fig. and transf. Anything that one ‘trades’ or ‘deals’ in.
{dag}7. a. A quantity of wares, parcel, ‘lot’. Also fig.
{dag}b. spec. in 16-17th c.: A parcel of goods sold on credit by a usurer to a needy person, who immediately raised some cash by re-selling them at a lower price, generally to the usurer himself (see D'Israeli Cur. Lit., Usury).
An accommodation of this kind, designed to evade the usury laws, in which the goods were trumpery, was known as a commodity of brown paper, or the like: see Nares. to take (clap) up a commodity: to obtain such an accommodation.
8. attrib., as commodity agreement, control, fetishism, market, price; commodity dollar U.S., a proposed unit of a form of currency the gold value of which is determined by the current market prices of certain basic commodities; also attrib.; commodity exchange, an organized market for the bulk purchase of certain commodities, a commodity market; commodity rate, a special rate charged by railways for transportation of particular commodities within a specified area.
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