Commitment

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Commitment \Com*mit"ment\, n.
     1. The act of committing, or putting in charge, keeping, or
        trust; consignment; esp., the act of committing to prison.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              They were glad to compound for his bare commitment


              to the Tower, whence he was within few days
              enlarged.                             --Clarendon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A warrant or order for the imprisonment of a person; --
        more frequently termed a mittimus.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. The act of referring or intrusting to a committee for
        consideration and report; as, the commitment of a petition
        or a bill.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. A doing, or perpetration, in a bad sense, as of a crime or
        blunder; commission.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. The act of pledging or engaging; the act of exposing,
        endangering, or compromising; also, the state of being
        pledged or engaged. --Hamilton.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  commitment
       n 1: the trait of sincere and steadfast fixity of purpose; "a man
            of energy and commitment" [syn: {committedness}]
       2: the act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally)
          to a course of action; "his long commitment to public
          service"; "they felt no loyalty to a losing team" [syn: {allegiance},
           {loyalty}, {dedication}]
       3: an engagement by contract involving financial obligation;
          "his business commitments took him to London"
       4: a message that makes a pledge [syn: {dedication}]
       5: the official act of consigning a person to confinement (as
          in a prison or mental hospital) [syn: {committal}, {consignment}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  201 Moby Thesaurus words for "commitment":
     abandon, activity, affair, agency, agentship, agreement,
     allegiance, altruism, ardency, ardor, assigned task, assignment,
     attempt, authority, authorization, bounden duty, brevet, burden,
     business, call of duty, campaign, care, cause, charge,
     commendation, commission, commissioning, committal, committedness,
     consecration, consignment, constancy, contract, crusade, cure,
     deal, decidedness, decision, decisiveness, dedication, deference,
     definiteness, delegated authority, delegation, deputation,
     determinateness, determination, determinedness, devoir, devolution,
     devolvement, devotedness, devotion, devoutness, disinterest,
     disinterestedness, drive, duties and responsibilities, duty,
     earnestness, effort, embassy, empowerment, enfeoffment, engagement,
     enterprise, entrusting, entrustment, errand, ethics, executorship,
     exequatur, factorship, faith, faithfulness, fastness, fealty,
     fervency, fervidness, fervor, fidelity, fire, firmness, full power,
     great cause, hallowing, heartiness, heat, heatedness, homage,
     humility, impassionedness, imperative, infeodation, infeudation,
     intensity, intentness, interest, issue, jurisdiction, legation,
     license, lieutenancy, lifework, line of duty, loyalty, mandate,
     mass movement, mission, mittimus, modesty, movement, must, need,
     obligation, obstinacy, office, onus, operation, ordainment,
     ordination, ought, passion, passionateness, perseverance,
     persistence, place, plan, plenipotentiary power, power of attorney,
     power to act, preengagement, principle, procuration, program,
     project, proposition, proxy, purpose, purposefulness, purview,
     reason for being, recognizance, recommitment, regency, regentship,
     relegation, relentlessness, remand, remanding, resoluteness,
     resolution, resolve, resolvedness, respect, responsibility, right,
     sacrifice, self-abasement, self-abnegation, self-denial,
     self-devotion, self-effacement, self-forgetfulness,
     self-immolation, self-imposed duty, self-neglect,
     self-neglectfulness, self-renouncement, self-sacrifice,
     self-subjection, self-will, selflessness, seriousness, sincerity,
     single-mindedness, spirit, staunchness, steadfastness, task,
     tenacity, total commitment, tried-and-trueness, triedness,
     trueness, trust, trusteeship, unacquisitiveness, understanding,
     undertaking, unpossessiveness, unselfishness, vehemence, venture,
     verbal agreement, vicarious authority, warmth, warrant, will, work,
     zeal
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  COMMITMENT, criminal law, practice. The warrant. or order by which a court 
  or magistrate directs a ministerial officer to take a person to prison. The 
  commitment is either for further hearing, (q.v.) or it is final. 
       2. The formal requisites of the commitment are, 1st. that it be in 
  writing, under hand, and seal, and show the authority of the magistrate, and 
  the time and place of making it. 3 Har. & McHen. 113; Charl. 280; 3 Cranch, 
  R. 448; see Harp. R. 313. In this case it is said a seal is not 
  indispensable. 
       3. - 2d. It must be made in the name of the United States, or of the 
  commonwealth, or people, as required by the constitution of the United 
  States or, of the several states. 
       4. - 3d. It should be directed to the keeper of the prison, and not 
  generally to carry the party to prison. 2 Str. 934; 1 Ld. Raym. 424. 
       5. - 4th. The prisoner should be described by his name and surname, or 
  the name he gives as his. 
       6. - 5th. The commitment ought to state that the party has been charged 
  on oath. 3 Cranch, R.448. But see 2 Virg. Cas. 504; 2 Bail. R. 290. 
       7. - 6th. The particular crime charged against the prisoner should be 
  mentioned with convenient certainty. 3 Cranch, R. 449; 11 St. Tr. 304. 318; 
  Hawk. B. 2, c. 16, s. 16 Chit. Cr. Law, 110. 
       8. - 7th. The commitment should point out the place of imprisonment, 
  and not merely direct that the party be taken to prison. 2 Str. 934; 1 Ld. 
  Ray. 424. 
       9. - 8th. In a final commitment, the command to the keeper of the 
  prison should be to keep the prisoner "until he shall be discharged by due 
  course of law," when the offence is not bailable; when it is bailable the 
  gaoler should be, directed to keep the prisoner in his "said custody for 
  want of sureties, or until he shall be discharged by due course of law." 
  When the commitment is not final, it is usual to commit the prisoner "for 
  further hearing." The commitment is also called a mittimus. (q.v.) 
      10. The act of sending a person to prison charged with the commission of 
  a crime by virtue of such a warrant is also called a commitment. Vide, 
  generally, 4 Vin. Ab. 576; Bac. Ab. h.t.; 4 Cranch, R. 129; 4 Dall. R. 412; 
  1 Ashm. R. 248; 1 Cowen, R. 144; 3 Conn. R. 502; Wright, R. 691; 2 Virg. 
  Cas. 276; Hardin, R. 249; 4 Mass. R. 497; 14 John. R. 371 2 Virg. Cas. 594; 
  1 Tyler, R. 444; U. S. Dig. h.t.