Com·mence v. i. [imp. & p. p. Commenced p. pr. & vb. n. Commencing.]
  1. To have a beginning or origin; to originate; to start; to begin.
     Here the anthem doth commence.   --Shak.
     His heaven commences ere the world be past.   --Goldsmith.
  2. To begin to be, or to act as. [Archaic]
     We commence judges ourselves.   --Coleridge.
  3. To take a degree at a university. [Eng.]
     I question whether the formality of commencing was used in that age.   --Fuller.