Com·mis·sa·ry n.; pl. Commissaries
1. One to whom is committed some charge, duty, or office, by a superior power; a commissioner.
Great Destiny, the Commissary of God. --Donne.
2. Eccl. An officer of the bishop, who exercises ecclesiastical jurisdiction in parts of the diocese at a distance from the residence of the bishop.
3. Mil. (a) An officer having charge of a special service; as, the commissary of musters. (b) An officer whose business is to provide food for a body of troops or a military post; -- officially called commissary of subsistence. [U. S.]
Washington wrote to the President of Congress . . . urging the appointment of a commissary general, a quartermaster general, a commissary of musters, and a commissary of artillery. --W. Irving
Commissary general, an officer in charge of some special department of army service; as: (a) The officer in charge of the commissariat and transport department, or of the ordnance store department. [Eng.] (b) The commissary general of subsistence. [U. S.]
Commissary general of subsistence Mil. U. S., the head of the subsistence department, who has charge of the purchase and issue of provisions for the army.
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