Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Command in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels command as verb. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913verb
Command

[OE. comaunden, commanden, OF. comander, F. commander, fr. L. com- + mandare to commit to, to command. Cf. Commend, Mandate.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordcommand
Part of speechverb
Historical etymology[OE. comaunden, commanden, OF. comander, F. commander, fr. L. com- + mandare to commit to, to command. Cf. Commend, Mandate.]
Selected historical definitionTo order with authority; to lay injunction upon; to direct; to bid; to charge.
Signed record IDwebster1913-command-verb-41cebb67be85
Source locatorCIDE.C, paragraph 11895; Gutenberg eBook 661
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 661Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "command" is labeled verb. Its etymology is recorded as: "[OE. comaunden, commanden, OF. comander, F. commander, fr. L. com- + mandare to commit to, to command. Cf. Commend, Mandate.]" The selected historical definition says: "To order with authority; to lay injunction upon; to direct; to bid; to charge."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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