Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A supermarket for military personnel and their dependents, usually located on a military installation.
  • noun A store where food and equipment are sold, as in a mining camp.
  • noun A lunchroom or cafeteria, especially one in a film or television studio.
  • noun A person to whom a special duty is given by a higher authority; a deputy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In a general sense, one to whom some charge, duty, or office is committed by a superior power; one who is sent or delegated to execute some office or duty in the place, or as the representative, of his superior; a commissioner.
  • noun Eccles., an officer who by delegation from the bishop exercises spiritual jurisdiction in remote parts of a diocese, or is intrusted with the performance of the bishop's duties in his absence.
  • noun In Scots law, the judge in a commissary-court; in present practice, the sheriff of each county acting in the commissary-court. See commissary-court.
  • noun Milit., a name given to officers or officials of various grades, especially to officers of the commissariat department.
  • noun [F. commissaire de police.] A superior officer of police in France.
  • noun A general store for supplying workmen in any large industry.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One to whom is committed some charge, duty, or office, by a superior power; a commissioner.
  • noun (Eccl.) An officer of the bishop, who exercises ecclesiastical jurisdiction in parts of the diocese at a distance from the residence of the bishop.
  • noun United States, United States An officer having charge of a special service.
  • noun United States An officer whose business is to provide food for a body of troops or a military post; -- officially called commissary of subsistence.
  • noun [Eng.], [U. S.] The commissary general of subsistence.
  • noun (Mil. U. S.) the head of the subsistence department, who has charge of the purchase and issue of provisions for the army.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A store primarily serving soldiers.
  • noun A cafeteria at a movie studio.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a snack bar in a film studio
  • noun a retail store that sells equipment and provisions (usually to military personnel)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English commissarie, agent, from Medieval Latin commissārius, from Latin commissus, entrusted; see commission.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word commissary.

Examples

  • He presumed the boat had served to provision the fort from the main Spanish commissary in Fort Niebla, but now it would help Cochrane complete his victory.

    Sharpe's Devil Cornwell, Bernard 1992

  • Yes, there is a small gift shop -- make that "commissary" -- where people can buy T-shirts and the like, and visitors can drop off letters that will get a South Pole postmark.

    StarTribune.com rss feed 2011

  • Yes, there is a small gift shop - make that, "commissary" - where people can buy T-shirts and the like, and visitors can drop off letters that will get a South Pole postmark.

    NYT > Home Page By JENNIFER A. KINGSON 2011

  • Yes, there is a small gift shop - make that, "commissary" - where people can buy T-shirts and the like, and visitors can drop off letters that will get a South Pole postmark.

    NYT > Home Page By JENNIFER A. KINGSON 2011

  • Yes, there is a small gift shop - make that, "commissary" - where people can buy T-shirts and the like, and visitors can drop off letters that will get a South Pole postmark.

    NYT > Global Home By JENNIFER A. KINGSON 2011

  • Yes, there is a small gift shop - make that, "commissary" - where people can buy T-shirts and the like, and visitors can drop off letters that will get a South Pole postmark.

    NYT > Home Page By JENNIFER A. KINGSON 2011

  • Outside the bright sterility of the commissary was a corridor suggestive of hushed voices and stiff formality.

    A Girl's Legs Stirring The Air 2010

  • However the desperation of the Ulema in face of the "white" assault brings the formation of "penal battalions" led by former officers and we first meet Captain Rosencreuntz supervising a bridge demolition in face of relentless enemy attack, when he is arrested by religious commissary aka "Hojatoleslam" Nikita, beaten and thrown in a car trunk to be led to Ayatollah Commissar Barko for summary judgment.

    "Escape From Byzantium" by Mark Mellon (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu and Mihir Wanchoo) Liviu 2009

  • Now, this in not a new spouse, she's been around this military life for almost 20 years and ought to know by now that yes, it is their job but each and every one of us that shops at the commissary is their de facto employer.

    I'm so clueless! - SpouseBUZZ 2008

  • The commissary is a place on the cotton patch where the man who owns the cotton patch sells food and seed and goods to the people who work the cotton patch for him.

    Life Lit by Some Large Vision Ossie Davis 2006

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.