commoners

Noun

commoner (plural commoners)

1. A member of the common people who holds no title or rank.
2. (UK) Someone who is not of noble rank.
   • All below them [the peers], even their children, were commoners, and in the eye of the law equal to each other.1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC
   1. (UK, historical) A Member of Parliament in the House of Commons.
      • I am now received in, and made a Member of this Honorable Houſe of Commons, though it be a thing ſtrange, and not common in England, for an Earl and a member of the LORDS Houſe to be made a Commoner, or removed from the upper end of the to the Lower end of the Table.1649, Michael Oldiſworth, The Speech, of Phillip Herbert, Late Earl of Pembroke. At His Admittance (as a Member) into the Honorable House of Commons, London, pages 4-5
   2. (UK, historical) One eligible to be a member of the House of Commons.
      • [I]f he be a Commoner of ſuch as is capable of being in the Houſe of Commons, at leaſt, unleſſe some Law have diſabled him.1648, Sir Roger Twysden, The Commoners Liberty: or, The English-Mans Birth-Right, London, page 2
3. (UK, obsolete, Oxford University) A student who is not dependent on any foundation for support, but pays all university charges.
   • There are to this day fellow-commoners at Queens, and surely such a distinguished commoner as Fuller would have been allowed to remain on that foundation, in which he had spent seven years, in this new capacity. The expense would have been about the same, and the only way in which I can account for...1886, Rev. Morris Joseph Fuller, “College Days (Sydney-Sussex). 1629-1631”, in The Life, Times and Writings of Thomas Fuller, D.D., 2nd edition, volume 1, London: S. Sonnenschein, Le Bas & Lowrey...

   Synonyms:

   pensioner

4. Someone who has a right over another's land. They hold common rights because of residence or land ownership in a particular manor, especially rights on common land. eg: centuries-old grazing rights
   • Much good land might be gained from forests […] and from other commonable places, so as always there be a due care taken that the poor commoners have no injury.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted...

See all 9 meanings of commoner