Com*mit" (?), v. t. [imp. &
p. p. Committed; p. pr. & vb.
n. Committing.] [L. committere,
commissum, to connect, commit; com- +
mittere to send. See Mission.] 1.
To give in trust; to put into charge or keeping; to intrust;
to consign; -- used with to, unto.
Commit thy way unto the Lord.
Ps. xxxvii. 5.
Bid him farewell, commit him to the
grave.
Shak.
2. To put in charge of a jailor; to
imprison.
These two were committed.
Clarendon.
3. To do; to perpetrate, as a crime, sin,
or fault.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Ex. xx. 14.
4. To join for a contest; to match; --
followed by with. [R.] Dr. H. More.
5. To pledge or bind; to compromise,
expose, or endanger by some decisive act or preliminary step; --
often used reflexively; as, to commit one's self to a
certain course.
You might have satisfied every duty of political
friendship, without commiting the honor of your
sovereign.
Junius.
Any sudden assent to the proposal . . . might
possibly be considered as committing the faith of the
United States.
Marshall.
6. To confound. [An obsolete
Latinism.]
Committing short and long [quantities].
Milton.
To commit a bill (Legislation),
to refer or intrust it to a committee or others, to be
considered and reported. -- To commit to
memory, or To commit, to learn by
heart; to memorize.
Syn. -- To Commit, Intrust,
Consign. These words have in common the idea of
transferring from one's self to the care and custody of another.
Commit is the widest term, and may express only the
general idea of delivering into the charge of another; as, to
commit a lawsuit to the care of an attorney; or it may
have the special sense of intrusting with or without limitations,
as to a superior power, or to a careful servant, or of
consigning, as to writing or paper, to the flames, or to prison.
To intrust denotes the act of committing to the exercise
of confidence or trust; as, to intrust a friend with the
care of a child, or with a secret. To consign is a more
formal act, and regards the thing transferred as placed chiefly
or wholly out of one's immediate control; as, to consign a
pupil to the charge of his instructor; to consign goods to
an agent for sale; to consign a work to the press.
Com"mit, v. i. To sin; esp.,
to be incontinent. [Obs.]
Commit not with man's sworn spouse.
Shak.
