commit

Borrowed from Latin committō (“to bring together, join, compare, commit (a wrong), incur, give in charge, etc.”), from com- (“together”) + mittō (“to send”). See mission.

• IPA^(key): /kəˈmɪt/

• Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -ɪt
• Hyphenation: com‧mit

commit (third-person singular simple present commits, present participle committing, simple past and past participle committed)

1. (transitive) To give in trust; to put into charge or keeping; to entrust; to consign; used with to or formerly unto.
   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 52, column 1:

     Bid him farwell, commit him to the Graue,

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 37:5:

     Commit thy way vnto the Lord: trust also in him, and he shall bring it to passe.

   • 1748, [David Hume], “Essay XII. Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy.”, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, part III, page 256:

     If we take in hand any Volume; of Divinity or School Metaphyſics, for Inſtance; let us aſk, Does it contain any abſtract Reaſonings concerning Quantity or Number? No. Does it contain any experimental Reaſonings concerning Matters of Fact or Exiſtence? No. Commit it then to the Flames: For it can contain nothing but Sophiſtry and Illuſion.

2. (transitive) To imprison: to forcibly place in a jail.
3. (transitive) To forcibly evaluate and treat in a medical facility, particularly for presumed mental illness.

   Tony should be committed to a nuthouse!

4. (transitive) To do (something bad); to perpetrate, as a crime, sin, or fault.

   to commit murder

   to commit a series of heinous crimes

   to commit suicide

   (also see usage notes)

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 20:4:

     Thou shalt not commit adultery.

5. (transitive, intransitive) To pledge or bind; to compromise, expose, or endanger by some decisive act or preliminary step. (Traditionally used only reflexively but now also without oneself etc.)[1]

   to commit oneself to a certain action

   to commit to a relationship

   • 8 March, 1769, Junius, letter to the Duke of Grafton

     You might have satisfied every duty of political friendship, without committing the honour of your sovereign.

   • 1803, John Marshall, The Life of George Washington:

     Any sudden assent to the proposal […] might possibly be considered as committing the faith of the United States.

   • 2005 July 31, Teri Karush Rogers, quoting Julie Friedman, “Fear of Committing?”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     […] the perennial bachelor and “the single woman who has never married, who is afraid to commit to an apartment, because she's afraid if she somehow commits to a studio or one-bedroom then she's never going to get married,” said Julie Friedman, a senior associate broker at Bellmarc Realty.

6. (transitive, computing, databases) To make a set of changes permanent.
   • 2005, Thearon Willis, Beginning Visual Basic 2005 Databases, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 343:

     When all SQL statements in the transaction are executed successfully, the transaction is committed and all the work that the SQL statements performed is made a permanent part of the database.

   • 2014, Wlodzimierz Gajda, Git Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach, Apress, →ISBN, page 86:

     We can commit all unstaged files with one command: […]

7. (transitive, programming) To integrate new revisions into the public or master version of a file in a version control system.
8. (intransitive, obsolete) To enter into a contest; to match; often followed by with.[2]
   • 1616, Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Poetaster. [To the Reader.]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, →OCLC, page 348:

     For, in theſe ſtrifes, and on ſuch perſons, were as wretched to affect a victorie, as it is vnhappy to be committed with them.

   • 1677, Richard Gilpin, “part II, chapter VII”, in Dæmonologia Sacra‎, London: J. D., page 313:

     […] and from hence ( as when Fire and Water are committed together ) ariſeth a most troubleſome conflict.

   • 1877 [1804 March 4], Lord Castlereagh, quotee, “part II, chapter VII”, in Sidney James Owen, editor, Selection from the Despatches, Treaties, and Other Papers of the Marquess Wellesley […] ‎, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 263:

     […] whilst it commits us in hostility with the three greatest military powers of the empire.

9. (transitive, obsolete, Latinism) To confound.
   • 1673, John Milton, “[Sonnet] XIII. To Mr. H. Lawes, on his Aires.”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], →OCLC, page 57:

     Harry whoſe tuneful and well meaſur'd Song / Firſt taught our Engliſh Muſick how to ſpan / Words with juſt note and accent, not to ſcan / With Midas Ears, committing ſhort and long;

10. (obsolete, intransitive) To commit an offence; especially, to fornicate.
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter XII, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

      the sonne might one day bee found committing with his mother […].

    • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], pages 297–298, column 2:

      [K]eepe thy words Iusſtice, ſweare not, commit not, with mans ſworne Spouſe;

11. (obsolete, intransitive) To be committed or perpetrated; to take place; to occur.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter VIII, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume II, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book IV, page 51:

      As a vaſt Herd of Cows in a rich Farmer's Yard, if, while they are milked, they hear their Calves at a Diſtance, lamenting the Robbery which is then committing, roar and bellow: So roared forth the Somerſetſhire Mob an Hallaloo, made up of almoſt as many Squawls, Screams, and other different Sounds, as there were Perſons, or indeed Paſſions, among them: […]

12. (euphemistic) die from suicide.

• (forcibly treat): 5150 (US slang); section (UK slang)
• (integrate new revisions into the public version of a file): check in

• → German: committen

commit (plural commits)

1. (computing, databases) The act of committing (e.g. a database transaction), making it a permanent change; such a change.
   • 1988, Klaus R Dittrich, Advances in Object-Oriented Database Systems: 2nd International Workshop:

     To support locking and process synchronization independently of transaction commits, the server provides semaphore objects […]

   • 2009, Jon Loeliger, Version Control with Git:

     Every Git commit represents a single, atomic changeset with respect to the previous state.

2. (programming) The submission of source code or other material to a source control repository.
3. (informal, sports, chiefly US) A person, especially a high school athlete, who agrees verbally or signs a letter committing to attend a college or university.

• (submission of source code): check-in

• → German: Commit
• → Russian: комми́т (kommít)

• push
• stage

• “commit”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “commit”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.mi/

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commit

1. third-person singular past historic of commettre