commissure (komisur)

[F. commi ure = Sp. comisura Pg.com commis sur a = It. commes sura , a joint, commisura , symmetry, netry, itne , fitne , commis sur a , a joint, seam, band, u us , pp. of committere , put together, join: see commit .] 1. A joint, seam, suture, or closure; the place where two bodies or parts of a body meet or unite. Specifically - ( a ) In an at .: (1) A suture of cranial bones. (2) The joining of the lips, eyelids, etc., at their angles. (3) See phrases below. (b) In ornith ., the line of closure of the mandibles. See cut under bill, 1131 The Baillies of the cite haue power and auctorite to committe hym to prison. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 400. The temporal concerns of our family were chiefly com mitted to my wife's management. Goldsmith , Vicar, ii. 2. To engage; involve; put or bring into risk or danger by a preliminary step or decision which cannot be recalled; compromise. You might have satisfied every duty of political friendship without committing the honour of your sovereign. Junius. The general addre ed letters to Gen. Gates and to Gen. Heath, cautioning them against any sudden a ent to the proposal, which might po ibly be considered as commit ting the faith of the United States. Marshall , Washington. 3. To consign to custody by official warrant, as a criminal or a lunatic; specifically, to send to prison for a short term or for trial. Now we'll go search the taverns, commit such As we find drinking, and be drunk ourselves With what we take from them. Fletcher ( and another ), Love's Cure, iv. 3. 4. In legislation, to refer or intrust to a committee or select number of persons for their consideration and report. After it has been carried that it [the bill] should be read a second time, it is committed, i. e., referred either to a select committee chosen to examine it carefully, or the whole House goes into committee, or sits to look into it phrase by phrase. A. Buck land, Nat. Institutions, p. 28. 5. To memorize; learn by heart: a shortened colloquial form of the phrase to commit to memory: as, have you committed your speech-6. To do or perform (especially something reprehensible, wrong, inapt, etc.); perpetrate: as, to commit murder, treason, felony, or trespa ; to commit a blunder or a solecism. And now the Prince's Followers themselves come to be outrages. a Grievance, who relying upon their Master, commit many Baker , Chronicles, p. And it is to be believed that he who commits the same crime often, and without nece ity, cannot but do it with some kind of pleasure. Dryden, Orig. and Prog. of Satire. 7t. To join or put together unfitly or heterogeneously; match improperly or incongruously; confound: a Latinism. [Rare.] How commit the opponent Dr. H. More, Divine Dialogues. Commi ure ... means the point where the gape ends behind, that is, the angle of the mouth, where the apposed edges of the mandibles join each other; but.. loosely applied to the whole line of closure, from true com mi ure to tip of the bill. Coues , Key to N. A. Birds, p. 105. (c) In bot ., the face by which one carpel coheres to another, as in the Um belliferæ; in mo es, the line of junction of two cells, or of the operculum and the capsule. (d) In arch., the joint between two stones, formed by the application of the surface of one to that of another. 2. That which joins or connects. Specifically-( a ) In an at., one of certain bands of a, a, line of the commi ural faces of nerve-ti ue, white or the two carpels. gray, connecting right Commi ure in Botany.- Section of Fruit of Ethusa, enlarged. and left parts of the brain and spinal cord. (b) In zoöl., a nerve-cord connecting the larger ganglia of the nervous system. Anterior commi ure of the brain (commis sur a anterior), a rounded cord of white fibers cro ing in front of the anterior crura of the fornix. See cut under corpus.- Commi ure of the flocculus, the posterior medullary velum. - Esophageal commi ures. See esophageal ring, under esophageal. - Gray commi ure of the spinal cord, the connection of the two lateral crescentic ma es of gray substance. See cut under spinal. Great white commi ure of the brain (commis sur a magna), the corpus callosum (which see, under corpus ).Meynert's commi ure. See commis sur a basal is, under commis sur a. Middle or soft commi ure of the brain (commis sur a media), a commi ure consisting almost entirely of gray substance, connecting the optic thalami anteriorly acro the cavity of the third ventricle. See cut under corpus. - Optic commi ure, the chiasm of the optic nerves. See chiasm. - Posterior commi ure of the brain (commis sur a posterior), a flattened band of white substance connecting the optic thalami posteriorly. Short commi ure, a part of the inferior vermiform proce of the cerebellum, situated in the incisura posterior.-Simple commi ure of the cerebellum, a small lobe near the incisura posterior. - White commi ures of the spinal cord, anterior and posterior, the connections of the lateral ma es of white substance, one in front of, the other behind, the gray commi ure. See spinal. commit (ko-mit'), v.; pret. and pp. committed, ppr. committing. [ Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him. Ps. xxxvii. 5. First taught our English musick how to span Words with just note and accent, not to scan With Midas ears, committing short and long. Milton , Sonnets, viii. 8t. To consider; regard; account. I was commytted the best archere That was in mery Englonde. Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode (Child's Ballads, V. 120). Fully committed, in law, committed to prison for trial, distinction from detention for examination preliminary to such commitment. To commit one's self. (a) To intrust one's self; surrender one's self: with to. A kinde of Swine which, being hunted, commit themselues quickly to the water. Purchas , Pilgrimage, p. 835. They committed themselves unto the sea. Acts xxvii. 40. (b) To speak or act in such a manner as virtually to bind one's self to a certain line of conduct, or to the approval of a certain opinion or course of action: as, he has com mitted himself to the support of the foreign policy of the government; avoid committing yourself. It might, perhaps, be in the power of the emba ador, without committing himself or his government, to animate the zeal of the Opposition for the laws and liberties of England. Macaulay , Hist. Eng., vi. To commit to memory, to learn by heart; memorize. =Syn. 1. Intrust, Confide, Commit, Consign, agree in general in expre ing a transfer from the care or keeping of one to that of another. To intrust is to give to another in trust, to put into another's care with confidence in him. Confide is still more expre ive of trust or confidence, especially in the receiver's discretion or integrity; the word is now used most of secrets, but may be used more widely. Commit implies some measure of formality in the act; it is the most general of these words. Consign implies still greater formality in the surrender: as, to consign goods to a person for sale; to consign the dead to the grave. To consign seems the most final as an act; to commit stands next to it in this respect. But a case may arise, in which the government is no longer safe in the hands to which it has been intrusted . D. Webster , Speech, Oct. 12, 1832. Happy will it be for England if her interests be confided to men for whom history has not recorded the long series of human crimes and follies in vain. Macaulay, Hallam's Const. Hist. The King is by the Bishop of Here ford committed to the Custody of the Earl of Leicester. Baker , Chronicles, p. 112. IMG:content-0888.png:[blocks in formation] committeeship