commissary

English

Etymology

From Late Latin commissarius, from commissus, past participle of committō (“to commit, entrust to”). Doublet of commissar.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒm.ɪ.s(ə)ɹi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑ.mɪˌsɛɹ.i/, /ˈkɑ.məˌsɛɹ.i/

  • Audio (Connecticut)

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔm.ə.sə.ɹi/
• Hyphenation: com‧mis‧sa‧ry

Noun

commissary (plural commissaries)

1. A store primarily serving persons in an institution, most often soldiers or prisoners.
2. An account which a prisoner uses to buy provisions, or the balance of that account.
   • 2018, Tayari Jones, An American Marriage, Oneworld Publications, page 183:

     “We tried to provide for you while you were in there. We may not have put as much on your commissary as your in-laws, but what we gave was more to us.”

3. A cafeteria at a movie studio.
4. One to whom is committed some charge, duty, or office, by a superior power; a commissioner.
   • a. 1631 (date written), J[ohn] Donne, “The Progress of the Soul”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC, stanza IV, page 3:

     Great Deſtiny the Commiſſary of God;

5. An officer of the bishop, who exercises ecclesiastical jurisdiction in parts of the diocese at a distance from the residence of the bishop.
   • 1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani: Or, A Commentary, by Way of Supplement to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England. […], London: […] D. Leach, and sold by John Walthoe […], →OCLC:

     It has been already hinted , that a Commissary, in Latin stiled Commisarius, is a Title of Ecclefiaftical Jurisdiction

6. An officer who supplies provisions to an army.
7. (Scots law) The judge in a commissary court.
8. A higher-ranking police officer.

Coordinate terms

(military shop):

• BX
• PX
• shopette

Derived terms

• commissary general
• commissaryship

Translations

A store primarily serving persons in an institution

• Bulgarian: лавка f (lavka)

One to whom is committed some charge, duty, or office, by a superior power

• Bulgarian: пълномощник (bg) m (pǎlnomoštnik), представител (bg) m (predstavitel)
• Swedish: kommissarie (sv) c

An officer who supplies provisions to an army

• Bulgarian: интендант m (intendant)