v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Commerced p. pr. & vb. n. Commercing. ] [ Cf. F. commercer, fr. LL. commerciare. ] 1. To carry on trade; to traffic. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Beware you commerce not with bankrupts. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To hold intercourse; to commune. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Commercing with himself. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Musicians . . . taught the people in angelic harmonies to commerce with heaven. Prof. Wilson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Formerly accented on the second syllable.) [ F. commerce, L. commercium; com- + merx, mercis, merchandise. See Merchant. ] 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The public becomes powerful in proportion to the opulence and extensive commerce of private men. Hume. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Social intercourse; the dealings of one person or class in society with another; familiarity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fifteen years of thought, observation, and commerce with the world had made him [ Bunyan ] wiser. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Sexual intercourse. W. Montagu. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A round game at cards, in which the cards are subject to exchange, barter, or trade. Hoyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

Chamber of commerce. See Chamber.

Syn. -- Trade; traffic; dealings; intercourse; interchange; communion; communication. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Nav.) A very fast, unarmored, lightly armed vessel designed to capture or destroy merchant vessels of an enemy. Not being intended to fight, they may be improvised from fast passenger steamers. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]