general officer in the British marine, invested with the command of a detachment of ships of war destined on any particular enterprise, during which time he bears the rank of brigadier-general in the army, and his ship is distinguished from the rest of his squadron by a broad red pendant tapering towards the outer end, and sometimes forked. The word is corrupted from the Spanish comendador, which signifies both the superior of a monastery, and a knight who holds a commandery.

Commodore is also a name given to the convoy or leading ship in a fleet of merchantmen, which carries a light in her top to guide the other ships. See Convoy.

Commodus, L. Aurelius, emperor of Rome from A.D. 180 to 192, was the son of M. Aurelius and the younger Faustina, and was born at Lanuvium A.D. 161. At an early period he was provided by his guardians with the best teachers that the most enticing offers could allure to Rome, and under their care his progress in every branch of philosophy and the sciences was such as to buoy up his friends with the brightest prospects of happiness and prosperity as soon as the time should come for him to assume the purple. Before he reached manhood, titles and honours were lavished on him by his countrymen and the senate, which his conduct till that time amply warranted.

On the death of his father, whom he accompanied in his German wars, he concluded a peace with the barbarians, and hastened to the capital, where he was warmly received by the senate and people, and where he began his reign under the most favourable auspices. His lavish expenditure of the public money first awakened the suspicions of his subjects, but did not materially shake their confidence in the new emperor, till a conspiracy formed against him by his sister roused the dormant blood-thirstiness and ferocity of his nature, and urged him to excesses of cruelty unparalleled even in Roman history. His cruelty was only equalled by his sensuality, in the gratification of which he lavished the resources of the empire. In his thirst for public applause he did not scruple to exhibit himself in the arena as a charioteer, a dancer, or a buffoon, and especially delighted to display his skill as a gladiator, in which character he fought publicly seven hundred times, and slew many thousands of wild beasts in the circus. When the people at length grew tired of his atrocities, many plots were formed against his life, which, however, he always contrived to elude, till, in A.D. 192, he was slain by his mistress Marcia, with the assistance of a celebrated athlete, by name Narcissus. See Roman History.

Common (Lat. communis), belonging equally to more than one, or to many indefinitely. Also usual, ordinary, &c.