1. To have a beginning or origin; to originate; to start; to begin. Here the anthem doth commence. Shak. His heaven commences ere the world be past. Goldsmith.
2. To begin to be, or to act as. [Archaic] We commence judges ourselves. Coleridge.
3. To take a degree at a university. [Eng.] I question whether the formality of commencing was used in that age. Fuller.
COMMENCE
Com*mence", v. t.
Defn: To enter upon; to begin; to perform the first act of.
Many a wooer doth commence his suit. Shak.
Note: It is the practice of good writers to use the verbal noun (instead of the infinitive with to) after commence; as, he commenced studying, not he commenced to study.
COMMENCEMENT
Com*mence"ment, n. Etym: [F. comencement.]
1. The first existence of anything; act or fact of commencing; rise; origin; beginnig; start. The time of Henry VII . . . nearly coincides with the commencement of what is termed "modern history."
2. The day when degrees are conferred by colleges and universities upon students and others.
COMMEND
Com*mend", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Commended; p. pr. & vb. n.
Commending.] Etym: [L. commendare; com- + mandare to intrust to one's
charge, enjoin, command. Cf. Command, Mandate.]