commissary
[kom-uh-ser-ee]
- a store that sells food and supplies to the personnel or workers in a military post, mining camp, lumber camp, or the like.
- a dining room or cafeteria, especially one in a motion-picture studio.
- a person to whom some responsibility or role is delegated by a superior power; a deputy.
- (in France) a police official, usually just below the police chief in rank.
- commissar.
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Origin of commissary
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for commissary
Contemporary Examples
I suspect [Teresa] will get money sent in to her, so she can shop at the commissary.
How a ‘Real Housewife’ Survives Prison: ‘I Don’t See [Teresa Giudice] Having a Cakewalk Here’Michael Howard
January 6, 2015
I don't recall ever seeing him in the commissary, and who would forget?
To cook the macaroni the commissary sold hotpots, which you needed a permit to possess and could only buy one a time.
One of the strangest parts of the show, is the power the commissary has over inmates lives.
With generic brand cigarettes sold in commissary for about a dollar each, packs were an effective unit of currency.
Historical Examples
He was rewarded with the appointment of Commissary of Police at Niort.
A Zola DictionaryJ. G. Patterson
Thereupon she handed Muche's books and the copies set by Florent to the commissary.
The Fat and the ThinEmile Zola
The commissary said there was quite sufficient there to hang him.
The Fat and the ThinEmile Zola
There was no more question of the commissary of police that evening.
Therese RaquinEmile Zola
The commissary, however, had begun to read the copies with a grave air.
The Fat and the ThinEmile Zola
commissary
- US a shop supplying food or equipment, as in a military camp
- US army an officer responsible for supplies and food
- US a snack bar or restaurant in a film studio
- a representative or deputy, esp an official representative of a bishop
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Word Origin
C14: from Medieval Latin commissārius official in charge, from Latin committere to entrust, commit
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for commissary
n.
mid-14c., "one to whom special duty is entrusted by a higher power," from Medieval Latin commissarius, from Latin commissus "entrusted," past participle of committere (see commit). Originally ecclesiastical; the military sense of "official in charge of supply of food, stores, transport" dates to late 15c. Hence "storeroom" (1882) and "dining room in a larger facility" (1929, American English).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper