Com*mence" (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Commenced (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Commencing.] [F. commencer, OF. comencier, fr. L. com- + initiare to begin. See Initiate.] 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.

Com*mence", v. t. To enter upon; to begin; to perform the first act of.

Many a wooer doth commence his suit.
Shak.

&fist; 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.