com´mis|sar´y|ship

com|mis|sar|y «KOM uh _SEHR ee», noun, plural -sar|ies.

1. a store handling food and supplies, as in a mining camp, lumber camp, or army camp.

2. an army officer in charge of food and daily supplies for soldiers.

3. a deputy; representative. SYNONYM(S): agent, delegate.

4. Ecclesiastical. a representative of a bishop who has jurisdiction in remote parts of a diocese or performs the bishop's duties in his absence.

5. a French police officer ranking next to the mayor and police chief.

6. a commissar in the former Soviet Union.

╂[< Medieval Latin commissarius < Latin commissus entrusted, past participle of committere; see etym. under commit (Cf. ↑commit)]

–com´mis|sar´y|ship, noun.