common debtor noun (Scots law)

A debtor who is also owed money by a third party: the sum owed to him or her may be arrested (qv) and transferred directly to his or her creditor

common denominator see under denominate

Common Entrance noun

An entrance examination for public school, usually taken at the age of thirteen

Common Era noun

The Christian Era

common forms plural noun

The ordinary clauses which frequently occur in identical terms in writs and deeds

common fraction noun

A vulgar fraction

common gender noun

The gender of a noun or pronoun having one form for male and female, such as L bōs bull or cow, Eng student

common ground noun

A subject of mutual interest, argument, agreement, etc

commˈonhold noun

A freehold held in common by a number of owners, who have joint responsibility for managing the property (eg a block of flats)

common law noun

The law of England based on custom and precedent (cf statute law and civil law)

common-law marriage noun

1. In England, any of various informal types of marriage ceremony given legal recognition until 1753, some of which, if performed abroad, are still legally valid
2. Loosely, the bond between a man (common-law husband) and woman (common-law wife) living together as husband and wife but not legally married

common logarithm noun

A logarithm to the base ten

common market noun

1. An association of countries as a single economic unit with internal free trade and common external tariffs
2. (with caps) the European Economic Community (qv)

common measure noun

1. A quantity that is a measure of several quantities (mathematics)
2. Common time (music)
3. The usual form of a ballad stanza, a quatrain containing alternating four-stress and three-stress lines

common metre noun

A four-line hymn stanza with eight syllables in the first and third lines, six in the second and fourth

common-mode failure noun (nuclear eng)

The failure of two or more supposedly independent parts of a system (eg a reactor) from a common external cause or from interaction between the parts

common noun noun (grammar)

A name that can be applied to all the members of a class, opp to proper noun

common-or-garˈden adjective

Ordinary

commˈonplace noun

1. A platitude, pointless remark
2. A common topic or subject (obsolete)
3. A passage to be copied into a commonplace book.

adjective

1. Frequent, common, usual
2. Lacking distinction
3. Hackneyed, overused

transitive verb

1. To make notes of
2. To put in a commonplace book

intransitive verb

To platitudinize

commonplace book noun

A book in which ideas, notes, memoranda, etc are jotted down

commˈonplaceness noun

common rail noun

A type of diesel injection system

commˈon-ridˈing noun

In the Scottish Borders, the equivalent of beating the bounds

common room noun

(in schools, colleges, etc) a sitting room to which the students or teachers have common access

common school noun (US)

A public elementary school

common seal noun

The official seal of a corporate body

common sense noun

1. Average understanding
2. Good sense or practical wisdom

commonsenseˈ or commonsensˈical adjective

common-shoreˈ see under shore⁵

common stair noun

An interior stair giving access to several independent flats or dwellings

common stock noun (US)

Ordinary shares

common time noun (music)

Rhythm with two, four, eight or sixteen beats to the bar

Book of Common Prayer

The liturgy of the Church of England

common in the soil (law)

The ancient right to take stone, sand, gravel and minerals from common land

common of pasture (law)

The ancient right to graze animals on common land

Court of Common Bench or Common Pleas

One of the divisions of the High Court of Justice

in common

1. Together (archaic)
2. Together (with)
3. Shared or possessed equally

make common cause with

1. To cast in one's lot with
2. To have the same interest and aims as

philosophy of common sense

The school of philosophy that takes the universally admitted impressions of mankind as corresponding to the facts of things without any further scrutiny

short commons (informal)

Meagre rations

the common

That which is common or usual

the common good

1. The interest of the community at large
2. The property of a former Scottish royal burgh which is not raised by tax nor held by special act of parliament

the common people

The people in general

the common touch

The ability to empathize with ordinary people