commissariat


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com·mis·sar·i·at

 (kŏm′ĭ-sâr′ē-ĭt)
n.
1. A department of an army in charge of providing food and other supplies for the troops.
2. A food supply.
3. A major government department in the Soviet Union until 1946.

[French, from Medieval Latin commissārius, agent; see commissary. Sense 3, from Russian komissariat, from French commissariat.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

commissariat

(ˌkɒmɪˈsɛərɪət)
n
1. (Historical Terms) (in the former Soviet Union) a government department before 1946. Now called: ministry
2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy)
a. a military department in charge of food supplies, equipment, etc
b. the offices of such a department
3. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) food supplies
[C17: from New Latin commissāriātus, from Medieval Latin commissārius commissary]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

com•mis•sar•i•at

(ˌkɒm əˈsɛər i ət)

n.
1. a major governmental division in the U.S.S.R.: called ministry after 1946.
2. the organized method by which food, equipment, etc., is delivered to armies.
3. the department of an army charged with supplying provisions.
[1600–10; < New Latin commissāriātus= Medieval Latin commissāri(us) commissary + -ātus -ate3; (definition 1) < Russian komissariát « New Latin, as above]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.commissariat - a stock or supply of foodscommissariat - a stock or supply of foods    
food, nutrient - any substance that can be metabolized by an animal to give energy and build tissue
food cache - food in a secure or hidden storage place
larder - a supply of food especially for a household
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

commissariat

[ˌkɒmɪˈsɛərɪət] Ncomisaría f
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

commissariat

[ˌkɒmɪˈsɛəriət] n (MILITARY)intendance f
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

commissariat

n
(Mil) → Intendantur f
(in former USSR etc) → Kommissariat nt
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

commissariat

[ˌkɒmɪˈsɛərɪət] n (in former Soviet Union) → commissariato (Mil) → commissariato militare
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
A retired clerk of the commissariat department came, too; he was drunk, had a loud and most unseemly laugh and only fancy--was without a waistcoat!
"Yes, he was fond of drink, he was fond of it, he did drink!" cried the commissariat clerk, gulping down his twelfth glass of vodka.
A stiff commissariat officer of sixty, famous as a martinet, had then become enamoured of the gravity with which she drove the proprieties four-in-hand through the cathedral town society, and had solicited to be taken beside her on the box of the cool coach of ceremony to which that team was harnessed.
Mrs General's communication of this idea to her clerical and commissariat connection was so warmly applauded that, but for the lady's undoubted merit, it might have appeared as though they wanted to get rid of her.
But this defect was not due to any fault of the regimental commander, for in spite of repeated demands boots had not been issued by the Austrian commissariat, and the regiment had marched some seven hundred miles.
While engaged in this and other talk, night overtook them on the road before they had reached or discovered any place of shelter; and what made it still worse was that they were dying of hunger, for with the loss of the alforjas they had lost their entire larder and commissariat; and to complete the misfortune they met with an adventure which without any invention had really the appearance of one.
You shall entertain me with tales of your adventures whilst you compare our cuisine here with your own commissariat."
Grewgious, in a lower tone, after his clerk's departure, 'about employing him in the foraging or commissariat department.
During the war with Spain he was employed in the commissariat of the French army, and made a fortune; then with that money he speculated in the funds, and trebled or quadrupled his capital; and, having first married his banker's daughter, who left him a widower, he has married a second time, a widow, a Madame de Nargonne, daughter of M.
Mahbub had business at Quetta, and there Kim, as Mahbub admitted, earned his keep, and perhaps a little over, by spending four curious days as scullion in the house of a fat Commissariat sergeant, from whose office-box, in an auspicious moment, he removed a little vellum ledger which he copied out - it seemed to deal entirely with cattle and camel sales - by moonlight, lying behind an outhouse, all through one hot night.
We alighted in a pleasant wood towards the middle of the day, dined on a fallen tree, and leaving our best fragments with a cottager, and our worst with the pigs (who swarm in this part of the country like grains of sand on the sea-shore, to the great comfort of our commissariat in Canada), we went forward again, gaily.
To his thinking the navy was one of the current expenses of the war department, like the artillery, cavalry, infantry, and commissariat. Surely it was an absurdity to give separate administrations to admirals and marshals when both were employed to one end, namely, the defense of the nation, the overthrow of an enemy, and the security of the national possessions.

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