commonplacen.2adj.
/ˈkɒmənpleɪs/, U.S. /ˈkɑmənˌpleɪs/ A. n.2† 4. Ordinariness, commonplaceness. Obsolete.
1. † b. The theme or topic of a sermon or similar discourse. Obsolete.† c. A sermon or similar discourse delivered on a set theme or topic. Obsolete.
a. A passage of text considered to be generally relevant or appropriate, which may serve as the basis for a discourse or discussion; a topic suitable to the purpose of a rhetorician. historical after 17th cent.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > a written composition > parts of a written composition > [noun] > passage > used as basis for argument
commonplace?1531
locus communis1531
?1531 R. Barnes Supplic. Kinge Henrye VIII f. iv The comen places which he disputeth are these... The first is, that Alonlye faith iustefyeth before god... The seconde, what the church is [etc.].
1692 S. Patrick Answer to Touchstone of Reformed Gospel 161 Why, he brings the common place, XV. Luke 10. which saith there is joy in their presence, that is, in heaven (as it is, v. 7.) over one sinner that repenteth.
a1758 J. Ward Syst. Oratory (1759) I. iv. 51 The contrivance of common places, which Cicero calls the seats or heads of arguments, and by a Greek name topics.
1972 H. M. Solomon Public Welfare, Sci., & Propaganda in 17th Cent. iii. 82 These questions..were generally discussed through the use of ‘common places’. The speaker attacked the subject from all sides and with all of his rhetorical skills—simile, metaphor, quotations, amplification.
2015 L. Pernot Epideictic Rhetoric ii. 29 The ancient system of epideictic offered lists of commonplaces to be used for each sort of praised object as well as lists of different types of speeches for different occasions, aesthetic-style categories, and figures.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > topic, subject-matter > materials of topic > [noun] > of discourse
matterc1330
lessona1375
contenu1477
content1509
thema1531
commonplace1549
subject matter1598
text1608
clue1656
1549 H. Latimer 2nd Serm. before Kynges Maiestie 5th Serm. sig. Pii Thys commune place..was verye well handeled the laste Sondaye.
a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1953) I. 260 The fear of God..was a pregnant and a plentiful common place for him to preach upon.
1665 R. Johnson Scholars Guide 29 Upon any common place, as Vertue, Learning, Love, War, &c. bethink a Sentence consisting of three or four words, for each word write down what Synonyma's you know.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > non-fiction > treatise or dissertation > [noun] > thesis
commonplace1595
thesea1600
law-act1645
thesis1653
thema1888
1595 S. Ward Diary 13 June in M. M. Knappen Two Elizabethan Puritan Diaries (1933) 107 My wandering thoughtes at the common place. Remember alwayes att the hearing of God word to be appliing the things delivered alwayes to thy self.
1665 T. H. Exact Surv. Affaires Netherlands 168 After they have performed their Sermon and Common-place.
a1714 F. Brokesby Life H. Dodwell (1715) 19 His Common Places, that is, Exercises like Sermons, which were delivered in the College Chappel, shew him to be a good Scholar.
1791 E. Burke Appeal New to Old Whigs 16 A common place in favour of slavery and tyranny delivered to a popular assembly, would indeed be a bold defiance to all the principles of rhetoric.
2.
a. Any of a collection of notable passages, extracts, etc., compiled to form the contents of a book, typically divided into topics or themes; (in early use also) any of the topics into which such contents are divided. Also: an interesting or notable passage, quotation, etc., copied for personal reference into a book or scrapbook intended for this purpose. Frequently in book of commonplaces n., commonplace book n.figurative in quot. 1752.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > saying, maxim, adage > [noun]
saw9..
quideOE
yedOE
wordOE
wisdomc1175
bysawe?c1225
riotc1330
sentencec1380
textc1386
dict1432
diction1477
redec1480
say1486
adage1530
commonplace?1531
adagy1534
soothsay1549
maxima1564
apophthegm1570
speech1575
gnome1577
aphorisma1593
imprese1593
spoke1594
symbol1594
maxim1605
wording1606
impress1610
motto1615
dictum1616
impresa1622
dictate1625
effate1650
sentiment1780
great thought1821
brocarda1856
text-motto1880
sententia1917
?1531 J. Frith tr. P. Hamilton Paitrikes Places f. 2 A litle treatise..entreateth exactelye of certeyne comen places.
1581 J. Marbeck Bk. Notes & Common Places Ep. Ded. sig. Aiiiv I haue..employed my diligence in collecting these common places.
a1680 S. Butler Genuine Remains (1759) I. 211 When all a Student knows of what he reads Is not in's own, but under general Heads Of Common-places.
1704 J. Swift Disc. Mech. Operat. Spirit i, in Tale of Tub 287 Whatever in my small Reading occurs, concerning this our Fellow Creature [i.e. Ass], I do never fail to set it down, by way of Common-place.
1752 S. Johnson Rambler No. 206. ⁋15 The only common places of his memory are his meals; and if you ask him at what time an event happened, he considers whether he heard it after a dinner of turbot or venison.
1843 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. 5 Aug. 228/3 I rested not till I had inserted an ‘answer’..which everybody will acknowledge was well calculated for insertion in a book devoted to commonplaces.
2017 @KyriosityTweets 31 July in twitter.com (accessed 27 Oct. 2020) Don't just write commonplaces in a book; glue the quotes into a scrapbook.
b. A book consisting of a collection of commonplaces (sense A. 2a); = commonplace book n. rare after the 18th cent.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > written record > album or commonplace book > [noun]
book of commonplaces1562
adversaria1571
commonplace book1572
stem-book1592
commonplace1607
album1612
commonplacera1631
topic folio1644
place-booka1659
pocketbook1660
blank book1713
scrap-book1825
guard book1839
press book1897
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes Ep. Ded. sig. A5v Gesner relateth euery mans opinion (like a common place or Dictionary).
1666 G. Torriano (title) Piazza universale di proverbi Italiani. Or, a common place of Italian proverbs and proverbial phrases.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones II. vi. ix. 290 The famous Story of Alexander and Clytus..entered in my Common-Place under Title Drunkenness. View more context for this quotation
1824 W. H. Prescott Let. 24 Jan. in G. Ticknor Life W. H. Prescott (1863) vi. 64 You ask me..if I chose to write it, why I did not put it in my Commonplace.
2020 @Brian_Sauve 14 Sept. in twitter.com (accessed 16 Oct. 2020) This is in my commonplace from yesterday: ‘It's the person who demands respect the loudest who often deserves it the least’.
3. † b. A person who is a common topic of comment or conversation. Obsolete.
a. A statement, opinion, etc., that is generally accepted or assumed to be true; an everyday saying; a trite saying, a platitude, a truism. Also: a common or stock topic or subject of remark.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > saying, maxim, adage > self-evident truth, axiom > [noun] > trite saying, commonplace
commonplace1560
household word1574
scholium1830
commonplaceism1831
banality1861
bromide1906
stock response1925
tag-phrase1933
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > weakness or feebleness > [noun] > dullness > use of platitudes > a platitude
commonplace1560
platitude1815
commonplaceism1831
goodyism1883
1560 J. Knox et al. Buke Discipline in J. Knox Wks. (1848) II. 243 He must bind him self to his text, that he enter not in digressioun in explanyng commoun places.
1597 F. Bacon Of Coulers Good & Euill (Arb.) No. 10. 153 The common place of extolling the beginning of euery thing: Dimidium qui bene cœpit habet.
1638 A. Cowley Loves Riddle iv. sig. E2 Her skin like falling snow, her eyes like starres, Her cheekes like roses (which are common places Of all your lovers praises).
1741 W. Guthrie tr. Cicero Orations I. 15 Now that it [sc. this Appian Name] is discoloured with the Blood of a Robber and a Murderer, it is become a Common-Place of Conversation.
1856 N. Amer. Rev. July 264 That a child of New England should be the principal contemporary authority in this history, is a fresh illustration of the commonplace that ‘truth is stranger than fiction’.
1871 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues II. 140 The paradoxes of one age often become the commonplaces of the next.
1916 J. Dewey Democracy & Educ. (1925) iv. 60 It is a commonplace to say that education should not cease when one leaves school.
1989 B. Spackman Decadent Genealogies ii. 63 Baudelaire argues against the commonplace that ‘la nature embellit la beaute’ (‘nature beautifies beauty’).
2010 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 31 July 30 One of the most vehement proofs of the commonplace that video games are best kept on PlayStations.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > conversation > [noun] > topic of or subject for conversation or gossip > person discussed
commonplacea1610
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > derision, ridicule, or mockery > fact or condition of being mocked or ridiculed > [noun] > object of ridicule > talked about, gazed or pointed at
gazing stock1535
pointing-stock1585
pointing mark1592
commonplacea1610
storya1616
outspeckle1802
a1610 J. Healey tr. Epictetus Manuall (1636) xxix. 34 Prepare thy selfe to bee..the common-place of the multitude of mockers [Gk. ὡς καταμωκησομένων σου πολλῶν].
1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. iv. 230 The Papists were the most Popular Common-place, and the Butt against whom all the Arrows were directed.
c. Commonplace discourse, speech, or writing; triviality. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > customary or habitual mode of behaviour > [noun] > usualness > that which is commonplace > collectively
commonplace1732
day-to-day1965
1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron I. iv. ii. 208 The Being of a God is a Subject upon which there has been a world of Common-place.
1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison VI. lv. 356 Common subjects afford only commonplace.
1887 L. H. Bagg Ten Thousand Miles on Bicycle xxxvi. 642 I call this an interesting and valuable paper, in spite of all..the drivel and commonplace which it prints for ‘filling’.
1949 New Statesman 24 Sept. 336/2 Half a chapter of commonplace about Samarkand and Bokara..seem a poor reward for toiling with the author across dreary leagues of Asian railway.
d. An ordinary or common object, action, or occurrence; something trite.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > customary or habitual mode of behaviour > [noun] > usualness > that which is commonplace
staleness1617
hack1710
commonplace1802
quotidian1902
banalization1968
1802 W. Wordsworth To Daisy (2nd poem) 5 Thou unassuming Common-place Of Nature, with that homely face.
1850 F. D. Maurice Moral & Metaphysical Philos. (ed. 2) I. 83 A man whose eyes are in his head..observes commonplaces, and thinks of them.
1936 N.Y. Woman 23 Sept. 19/2 Their presence in the Royal Box at the opera in Covent Garden has become a commonplace.
1967 G. Steiner Lang. & Silence 22 Mr. Eliot's essay on Dante is a commonplace in literary education.
2015 N.Y. Times Mag. 6 Sept. 16/1 The Western shirt, with a curve to the yoke and a mother-of-pearl personality to the pockets, became a cowboy commonplace.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > [noun] > quality of being commonplace or undistinguished
ordinarinessa1617
vulgarity1646
greyness1663
commonness1779
commonplaceness1808
commonplace1842
commonplaceism1851
the mind > emotion > suffering > feeling of weariness or tedium > [noun] > state or quality of being wearisome or tedious > state or quality of being trite or banal
tameness1530
triteness1727
triticalness1727
tritism1785
commonplaceness1808
prosiness1814
triticism1824
triticality1835
commonplace1842
commonplaceism1851
prosaicness1852
prosaism1855
hackneydom1867
prosaicalness1876
banality1878
mundanity1959
squareness1961
1842 T. Martin My Namesake in Fraser's Mag. Dec. There is no getting over the commonplace of the cognomen.
1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. ii. 63 Where..is the note of provinciality in Addison? I answer, in the commonplace of his ideas.
5. With the. Common or ordinary things as a class.
ΚΠ
1849 C. Brontë Shirley II. iv. 104 A frontless, arrogant, decorous slip of the common-place.
1883 ‘G. Lloyd’ Ebb & Flow I. i. 1 The house..was a very type and embodiment of the commonplace.
1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day ii. 36 To them I owe a capacity for relishing the everyday and recognising the attractions in the commonplace.
2006 N.Y. Mag. 17 Apr. 88/3 Keller's genius is in taking the commonplace—the turkey sandwich, the ham and cheese, the PB&J—and elevating it to the pinnacle of its form.
B. adj.
1. That is ordinary or common; usual.In quot. 1616 punning on an attributive use of sense A. 1a, with allusion to Aristotle's influence on the term (see note at etymology).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > customary or habitual mode of behaviour > [adjective] > usual or ordinary > commonplace
quotidian1430
trite1548
beaten1587
trivial1589
threadbare1598
protrite1604
prose1606
commonplace1616
everyday1628
prostitute1631
prosaical1699
tritical1709
prosaic1729
tritish1779
hack1821
rum-ti-tum1832
unspecial1838
banal1840
commonplacish1847
prosy1849
inventionless1887
thread-worn1888
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > [adjective] > of no special quality > commonplace
commona1382
ordinarc1400
plainc1430
famosec1449
famous1528
vulgar1580
ordinary1590
undistinguished1600
indistinguished1608
commonplace1616
unremarkable1628
irremarkable1635
bread and cheese1643
incurious1747
ordinary-looking1798
routine1826
indistinctive1846
common-seeming1857
bread-and-butterish1893
bread-and-buttery1893
timeworn1901
day-to-day1919
vanilla1972
standard1977
1616 B. Jonson Epicœne ii. iii, in Wks. I. 543 There's Aristotle, a mere common place -fellow. View more context for this quotation
1648 Mercurius Britanicus No. 10. 78 We were so accustomed to these common-place pieces of knavery, that we can smell them at any distance.
1794 Malecontent 3 You seem to recur to the names of Mr. Burke, and Mr. Reeves, more frequently than to any others; as if they were the common-place topics of slander.
1908 E. M. Forster Room with View 109 He had known Lucy for several years, but only as a commonplace girl who happened to be musical.
1975 E. Dunlop Robinsheugh (1987) x. 82 What she wanted most in the world was a bit of friendly, commonplace chatter. The silences in this house could be so unnerving.
2012 D. Wilson Mary Ann Cotton (2013) iii. 94 Murder through using white arsenic became so commonplace that people joked about white powdering their enemies.
2. depreciative. Not interesting or original; trite.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > feeling of weariness or tedium > [adjective] > wearisome or tedious > dull through repetition
trite1548
beaten1587
threadbare1598
repetitious1673
hackneyed1747
monotonous1780
commonplace1801
thread-worn1888
the mind > emotion > suffering > feeling of weariness or tedium > [adjective] > wearisome or tedious > trite or banal
quotidian1430
trite1548
protrite1604
obvious1617
unbravea1681
prosaical1699
tritical1709
prosaic1729
hack1759
unstrikinga1774
commonplace1801
prosy1837
banal1840
mundane1850
unsensational1854
bromidic1906
corn-fed1929
corn-ball1970
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > weakness or feebleness > [adjective] > dull > stale or mechanical
vinnied1563
overworn1578
seta1616
stock1738
hackneyed1747
commonplace1801
stereotype1824
stereotyped1849
hacky1862
stereotypic1884
cliché1895
cliché-ridden1920
clichéd1925
1801 M. Edgeworth Forester in Moral Tales I. 138 The medal has been given to the most wretched, tame, common-place performance, you ever saw.
1926 People's Home Jrnl. Feb. 6/3 ‘Has life been that hard for you, Claire?’ ‘Oh, just monotonous and commonplace.’ Then in a little fierce burst of pent-up resentment, ‘Yes—it's been that hard! I do believe there's nothing worse than the dull, perpetual routine of housework.’
2009 Observer (Nexis) 31 May 15 Podeswa's confusing, commonplace film lumbers along with a painful sincerity.
Phrases
book of commonplaces n. a book consisting of a collection of commonplaces (senses A. 1a, A. 2a); a book or scrapbook into which interesting quotations, extracts, etc., are copied for personal reference; = commonplace book n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > written record > album or commonplace book > [noun]
book of commonplaces1562
adversaria1571
commonplace book1572
stem-book1592
commonplace1607
album1612
commonplacera1631
topic folio1644
place-booka1659
pocketbook1660
blank book1713
scrap-book1825
guard book1839
press book1897
1562 T. Norton in tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. (new ed.) Transl. Pref. sig. A.iv Many great learned men haue written bokes of common places of our religion, as Melanchton, Sarcerius, and other.
1653 H. More Antidote against Atheisme ii. vi. 66 The Theatre of the world is an excercise of Mans wit, not a lazy Polyanthea or book of Common places.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 22. ⁋6 Having by me, in my Book of Common Places, enough to enable me to finish a very sad one [sc. Tragedy] by the Fifth of next month.
1790 Mem. Literary & Philos. Soc. Manch. 4 55 The Anatomy of Melancholy..is so crouded with quotations, that the reader is apt to mistake it for a book of commonplaces.
1893 Birmingham Daily Post 27 Oct. 7/6 The book is not..a mere tyro's book of commonplaces.
1956 Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. 71 484 I draw these quotations from a book of commonplaces.
2006 H. Jacobson Kalooki Nights iii. 68 The reddest of red threads..looped limply in faded pink, like pressed roses found in a spinster's book of commonplaces.
Compounds
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > saying, maxim, adage > self-evident truth, axiom > [noun] > trite saying, commonplace > user of
commonplace man1627
commonplacer1731
hackneyer1779
1627 W. Sclater Briefe Expos. 2 Thess. (ii. 17) 216 Iustice..whereto also Popish common-place-men referre mercy and the workes thereof as to their head.
1692 J. Norris Cursory Refl. Ess. Human Understanding 41 in Christian Blessedness (ed. 2) I hate your Common-place men of all the Writers in the World.
1826 S. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 84/2 The exhausted common-placemen, and the afflicted fool.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > weakness or feebleness > [noun] > dullness > one who
commonplace talker1711
proser1769
prosaist1831
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 11. ⁋1 I found her accompanied with one Person, only, a Common-place talker, who..turning to Arietta, pursued his Discourse, which I found was upon the old Topick, of Constancy in Love.
1843 Era 15 Jan. 4/4 Some common-place talkers..would fain speak of nothing but the clever hands in which the direction of public affairs is placed.
?1881 How to shine in Soc. 62 A commonplace talker is a decided bore of society, and a most wearisome one too.
Derivatives
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > customary or habitual mode of behaviour > [adjective] > usual or ordinary > commonplace
quotidian1430
trite1548
beaten1587
trivial1589
threadbare1598
protrite1604
prose1606
commonplace1616
everyday1628
prostitute1631
prosaical1699
tritical1709
prosaic1729
tritish1779
hack1821
rum-ti-tum1832
unspecial1838
banal1840
commonplacish1847
prosy1849
inventionless1887
thread-worn1888
1847 J. B. Kington Battle of Nibley Green 303 The volume contained Chansons Diverses, with the music: the words, divested of a certain warmth and a little of the bacchanalian fervour, but common-placeish; the airs, some of them, pretty.
1876 Tinsley's Mag. 19 599 An amiable, pretty, commonplacish girl.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > written record > album or commonplace book > [adverb] > in manner of commonplace book
commonplace-wise1584
1584 T. Cartwright Let. 23 Mar. in A. Peel & L. H. Carlson Cartwrightiana (1951) iii. 113 Some labour the knowledge of the Word by interpretations of it, other generally by Commentary Commonplace wise.
1621 R. Montagu Diatribæ Hist. Tithes ii. 366 [He] that collected, common-place-wise, out of S. Chrysostomes Works, those passages.
1628 J. Hume Jewes Deliv. vii. 108 I purpose not to discourse of Prayer common-place-wise.
a1722 J. Toland Coll. Several Pieces (1726) II. 30 The Emperor..was at the pains..to dispose under several heads, common-place-wise, whatever he was most desirous to understand.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
commonplacev.
/ˈkɒmənpleɪs/, U.S. /ˈkɑmənˌpleɪs/ a. intransitive. To deliver an address or discourse based on a commonplace (commonplace n.2 1a). Obsolete (historical and rare in later use).
ΚΠ
1598 [implied in: S. Ward in M. M. Knappen Two Elizabethan Puritan Diaries (1933) 128 (modernized text) Our Master reported to Mr. Chaderton that my impediment in speech was not much perceived in Commonplacing. (at commonplacing n.)].
1662 H. More Coll. Philos. Writings (ed. 2) Pref. Gen. p. xii It being the very Text upon which my self first common-placed in our Colledge Chappel.
1735 J. Byrom Jrnl. 27 June in Private Jrnl. & Lit. Remains (1855) I. ii. 635 (transcript from orig. shorthand) Mr. Topham commonplaced upon the resurrection of the same body, or rather against it.
1907 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 230 Worthington..went on in his peaceable course, common placing in the chapel, and catechising, preaching, and probleming.
b. intransitive. More generally: to discourse on something; (also transitive) to discourse on (something). In later use also: to utter commonplaces or trite sayings. Obsolete (rare after 17th cent.).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > weakness or feebleness > become weak or feeble [verb (intransitive)] > write or discourse dully > use platitudes
commonplace1609
platitudinize1856
1609 R. Bernard Faithfull Shepheard (new ed.) 52 To take euery where occasion to common place vpon anie word.
?1620 F. Bacon Let. to King (modernized text) in Wks. (1874) XIV. iii. 72 For the good that comes of particular and select committees and commissions, I need not commonplace.
1646 F. Woodcock Ioseph paralled by Present Parl. 10 That I stay not too long in common-placing the point, my aime in this and the other that follow being especially application.
1839 Fraser's Mag. Dec. 653/1 Ponderous works commonplacing about admirable antiques, astonishing architecture, supereminent paintings, divine scenery, and celestial climates.
c. transitive. To supply a commonplace or commonplaces (commonplace n.2 1a) on (a particular topic). Obsolete.
ΚΠ
a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 35 Then a head in divinity was to be common placed in Latin, and the person was to maintain Theses upon it.
2.
a. transitive. To enter (a notable or interesting passage, extract, etc.) into a commonplace book (commonplace book n.). In early use also: to arrange (the contents of a commonplace book) according to topic. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1649 J. Hart Fort-royal of Script. (new ed.) To Rdr. sig. *4 A new method, yet much differing from Cotton, Bernards Thesaurus, or Wilsons Dictionary; being of further extent and survey, in Common-placing most of the Heads handled therein.
a1656 J. Hales Golden Remains (1673) i. 277 The custom..hitherto, was common placing a thing at the first Original very plain and simple.
1745 E. Bentham Moral Philos. 106 This method of common-placing passages out of the Father grew into frequent use in the seventh and following Centuries.
1858 A. J. Graham Hand-bk. Standard or Amer. Phonography (front matter) An invaluable Aid in Common-placing, that is, entering in a book for the purpose, those portions of our reading, observation, or thought, which we desire to remember or have accessible as occasion requires.
2019 @Lexy_Sauve 3 Oct. in twitter.com (accessed 30 Oct. 2020) You shared what I think was a Baxter quote on IG stories yesterday. Do you mind sharing it here? I meant to commonplace it earlier, but forgot!
b. transitive. To enter notable or interesting passages, extracts, etc., from (a text or author) into a commonplace book (commonplace book n.). Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > written record > album or commonplace book > record in album or commonplace book [verb (transitive)]
commonplace1735
scrap-book1879
1735 J. Armstrong Ess. abridging Study of Physic 35 He learns not only to prepare and compound Medicines, but, by perusing and Common-placing the Physicians Bills, how to apply them too.
1860 Lowndes' Bibl. Man. 1259 at M. Kempe In this work the author has commonplaced succinctly..above 1600 writers of divinity.
1930 Mississippi Valley Hist. Rev. 16 594 Lord Kames's Historical Law Tracts which Jefferson read and commonplaced during his student days.
2000 Amer. Scholar Autumn 7/2 Probably he remembered Johnson's ‘Idler’ essay because he had once been moved to commonplace it himself.
c. intransitive. To enter notable or interesting passages, extracts, etc., into a commonplace book (commonplace book n.). Now chiefly historical and rare.
ΚΠ
1742 R. North & M. North Life F. North 16 It was his Lordship's constant Practice to commonplace as he read.
1754 Earl of Chatham Lett. to Nephew (1804) 59 In general my advice to you is, not to common-place upon paper.
2013 Early Sci. & Med. 18 583 As he read, he extracted and commonplaced, ‘shredding’ texts into minimally sized units of information.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > feeling of weariness or tedium > be or become wearied or bored with [verb (transitive)] > make trite or banal
hackney1598
commonplace1847
platitudinize1917
pedestrianize1945
banalize1949
the world > action or operation > behaviour > customary or habitual mode of behaviour > do habitually [verb (transitive)] > render (a thing) habitual > make commonplace
hackney1598
vulgarize1709
commonplace1847
pedestrianize1945
banalize1949
1847 H. Miller First Impressions Eng. ii. 25 Coldly-read or fantastically-chaunted prayers, commonplaced by the twice-a-day repetition of centuries.
1895 W. E. Henley Let. 5 Sept. in H.G. Wells (1973) ii. vii. 110 I believe in your future; & I don't want to see it foundered. I believe in your future; & I don't want to see it commonplaced.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.2adj.?1531
v.1598