commerce

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Social intercourse; the dealings of one person or class in society with another; familiarity.

   [A]ll libertine diſcourſe, and familiarities vvith vvomen, […] nay even friendſhip it ſelfe […] muſt be vvatched vvith great prudence to be kept ſafe: for vvhich cauſe in ſtead of all theſe perillous commerces of our love, I vvill preferre ſo ſecure an object to it, […]

2. 2
   noun

   Sexual intercourse.

   carnal commerce

3. 3
   verb

   To carry on trade; to traffic.

   [A]lwaies beware you commerce not with bankrupts, […]

4. 4
   verb

   To hold conversation; to communicate.

   No, sir, he, / Vex'd with a morbid devil in his blood / That veil'd the world with jaundice, hid his face / From all men, and commercing with himself, / He lost the sense that handles daily life— […]

5. 5
   noun

   transactions (sales and purchases) having the objective of supplying commodities (goods and services)

6. 6
   noun

   social exchange, especially of opinions, attitudes, etc.

7. 7
   noun

   The exchange or buying and selling of commodities; especially the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic.

8. 8
   noun

   An 18th-century French card game in which the cards are subject to exchange, barter, or trade.

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French commerce, from Latin commercium. Doublet of comess.