Part 2168

<blockquote>Eyes . . . sick and blunted with <b>community</b>. <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Commutability</h1> <Xpage=287>

<hw>Com*mu`ta*bil"i*ty</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <def>The quality of being commutable.</def>

<h1>Commutable</h1> <Xpage=287>

<hw>Com*mut"a*ble</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <ety>[L. <ets>commutabilis</ets>.]</ety> <def>Capable of being commuted or interchanged.</def>

<blockquote>The predicate and subject are not <b>commutable</b>. <i>Whately.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Commutableness</h1> <Xpage=287>

<hw>Com*mut"a*ble*ness</hw>, <tt>n.</tt> <def>The quality of being commutable; interchangeableness.</def>

<h1>Commutation</h1> <Xpage=287>

<hw>Com`mu*ta"tion</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[L. <ets>commutatio</ets>: cf. F. <ets>commutation</ets>.]</ety> <p><b>1.</b> <def>A passing from one state to another; change; alteration; mutation.</def> <mark>[R.]</mark>

<blockquote>So great is the <b>commutation</b> that the soul then hated only that which now only it loves. <i>South.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>The act of giving one thing for another; barter; exchange.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<blockquote>The use of money is . . . that of saving the <b>commutation</b> of more bulky commodities. <i>Arbuthnot.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>3.</b> <fld>(Law)</fld> <def>The change of a penalty or punishment by the pardoning power of the State; <as>as, the <ex>commutation</ex> of a sentence of death to banishment or imprisonment</as>.</def>

<blockquote>Suits are allowable in the spiritual courts for money agreed to be given as a <b>commutation</b> for penance. <i>Blackstone.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>4.</b> <def>A substitution, as of a less thing for a greater, esp. a substitution of one form of payment for another, or one payment for many, or a specific sum of money for conditional payments or allowances; <as>as, <ex>commutation</ex> of tithes; <ex>commutation</ex> of fares; <ex>commutation</ex> of copyright; <ex>commutation</ex> of rations.</as></def>

<cs><col>Angle of commutation</col> <fld>(Astron.)</fld>, <cd>the difference of the geocentric longitudes of the sun and a planet.</cd> -- <col>Commutation of tithes</col>, <cd>the substitution of a regular payment, chargeable to the land, for the annual tithes in kind.</cd> -- <col>Commutation ticket</col>, <cd>a ticket, as for transportation, which is the evidence of a contract for service at a reduced rate. See 2d <er>Commute</er>, 2.</cd></cs>

<h1>Commutative</h1> <Xpage=287>

<hw>Com*mut"a*tive</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <ety>[CF. F. <ets>commutatif</ets>.]</ety> <def>Relative to exchange; interchangeable; reciprocal.</def> -- <wordforms><wf>Com*mut"a*tive"ly</wf>, <tt>adv.</tt></wordforms>

<blockquote>Rich traders, from their success, are presumed . . . to have cultivated an habitual regard to <b>commutative</b> justice. <i>Burke.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Commutator</h1> <Xpage=287>

<hw>Com"mu*ta`tor</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <fld>(Elec.)</fld> <def>A piece of apparatus used for reversing the direction of an electrical current; an attachment to certain electrical machines, by means of which alternating currents are made to be continuous or to have the same direction.</def>

<h1>Commute</h1> <Xpage=287>

<hw>Com*mute"</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>v. t.</tt> <wordforms>[<tt>imp. & p. p.</tt> <er>Commuted</er>; <tt>p. pr. & vb. n.</tt> <er>Commuting</er>.]</wordforms> <ety>[L. <ets>commutare</ets>, <ets>-mutatum</ets>; <ets>com-</ets> + <ets>mutare</ets> to change. See <er>Mutation</er>.]</ety> <def>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>as, to <ex>commute</ex> a sentence of death to one of imprisonment for life; to <ex>commute</ex> tithes; to <ex>commute</ex> charges for fares.</as></def>

<blockquote>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 <b>commute</b> the terms, and call them by the reverse. <i>J. Harris</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>The utmost that could be obtained was that her sentence should be <b>commuted</b> from burning to beheading. <i>Macaulay.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Commute</h1> <Xpage=287>

<hw>Com*mute"</hw>, <tt>v. i.</tt> <p><b>1.</b> <def>To obtain or bargain for exemption or substitution; to effect a commutation.</def>