[ad. L. commodāt-um loan, neut. of commodāt-us, pa. pple. of commodā-re to accommodate, lend: cf. Fr. commodat.] Rom. Law. A free loan of anything not perishable, to be returned unimpaired to the lender.
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., A commodate … is gratis, and does not transfer the property…. Things which consume by use, or time, cannot be objects of a commodate.
1754. Erskine, Princ. Sc. Law (1809), 286. Commodate … In this sort of loan, the property continues with the lender; the only right the borrower acquires in the subject is its use, after which he must restore the individual thing.
1818. Colebrooke, Oblig. & Contracts, I. 75. In the case of commodate or loan for use.
1880. Muirhead, trans. Instit. Gaius, III. § 90.
