Also 6 co(m)mutacion. [a. F. commutacion (14th c. in Littré) -ation, ad. L. commūtātiōn-em, n. of action f. commūtāre to COMMUTE: see -ATION.]
1. The action or process of changing or altering; change, alteration, mutation. ? Obs.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., X. v. Thys commutacion shoulde be refused.
1528. Roy, Sat. O wofull chaunce: most infortunate, So sodenly makynge comutacion.
a. 1716. South, Serm. (J.). So great is the commutation, that the soul then hated only that which now only it loves.
1837. Syd. Smith, Let. Archd. Singleton, Wks. 1859, II. 286/2. Such a scene of revolution and commutation.
b. with of and object.
1528. in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. App. xxiii. 58. The commutation and alteration of those religious places.
1637. R. Humphrey, trans. St. Ambrose, ii. 17. Commutation of them [words] where there seemeth any harshnesse.
† 2. The exchanging of one thing for another; exchange, barter. Obs.
1495. Act 12 Hen. VII., c. 6. To buy, sell, and make the Commutations with the Wares … at their Pleasure.
1553. S. Cabot, Ordinances, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1589), 261. No commutation or trucke to be made by any of the pettie marchants.
1663. Bp. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr., xxxix. (1668), 521. Friendship they say is a commutation of hearts.
1727. Arbuthnot, Coins (J.). The use of money … is that of saving the commutation of more bulky commodities.
1744. Harris, Three Treat., III. I. (1765), 154. A state of Commutation and Traffic.
3. The putting of one thing instead of another; substitution, interchange.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. (1632), 295. A kind of mutuall commutation … wherby those concrete names God, and Man, when we speake of Christ doe take interchangeably one anothers roome.
1836. J. Gilbert, Chr. Atonem., vii. (1852), 185. Regarding awards of punishment thus … there could plainly be no commutation of persons.
1870. Bowen, Logic, viii. 255. The commutation is only from equal to equal.
4. spec. a. The substitution of one kind of payment for another; of a money payment instead of the performance of some obligation; of a single payment instead of a number of successive payments; fig. the performance of some act or observance instead of the discharge of a moral obligation, or by way of making up or compounding for an offense. b. Law. The substitution of a lesser punishment for a greater. (See COMMUTE v.)
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxix. § 10. By way of commutation … where instead of natural commodities the price of them might be taken.
1640–4. Lond. Petit., in Rushw., Hist. Coll., III. (1692), I. 95. They have … decreed, That the commutation of Penance shall not be without the Bishop’s privity.
1761. Hume, Hist. Eng., I. viii. 166. Henry … levied upon his vassals … a sum of money in lieu of their service; and this commutation, etc.
1824. W. Irving, T. Trav., II. 147. A commutation of his own sentence from death to the galleys.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Fr. Wines & Pol., i. 7. Fines which they had to pay in commutation of the service of keeping the frogs quiet by night.
1837. Syd. Smith, Let. Archd. Singleton, Wks. 1859, II. 255/2. The Commutation of Tithes.
1876. Green, Short Hist., iv. 171. The commutation of those uncertain dues for a fixed sum paid annually to the Crown.
c. concr. The money or other price paid by way of commutation.
a. 1707. Beveridge, Serm., XI. lxix. (R.). This is his substitute, his commutation, or in his place.
1727. A. Hamilton, New Acc. E. Ind., I. v. 52. There must be a Commutation of Money paid by the separating Party to the other.
5. Astron. (See quot.)
1751. Chambers, Cycl., Commutation, in astronomy. Angle of commutation, is the distance between the sun’s true place seen from the earth, and the place of a planet reduced to the ecliptic.
1834. Nat. Philos., Astron., x. 203/2 (U. K. S.). The angle OSE is technically called the commutation.
6. Electr. The reversing or altering of the course of an electric current. (See COMMUTATOR.)
1876. Ferrier, Funct. Brain, 129. The closing, opening, or commutation of the current of a galvanic pile.
1881. Nature, XXIII. 368/2. Sixty-fie seconds before the hour each mairie clock makes its commutation, i.e. cuts off the line from the telegraph and connects it with the electro-magnet of the clock.
7. Rhet. (See quot.)
1823. Crabbe, Techn. Dict., Commutation (Rhet.), a figure of speech whereby a complete transposition of the words takes place; as ‘I do not live that I may eat, but I eat that I may live.’
8. attrib. and Comb., as commutation money, system; Commutation Act, an act for the commutation of tithes in England, passed in 1836; also, formerly, that of 1784, imposing an additional window-tax in lieu of a partial remission of the duty on tea; commutation road (Ogilvie), a parish or county road, so called because a sum of money is now paid in commutation of the compulsory service of man and horse formerly exacted for the repair of the road from owners of horses; commutation-ticket (U.S.), a ticket issued by a railway company, etc., at a reduced rate, entitling the holder to travel over a given route a certain number of times or during a certain period; a season-ticket.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah, 436. This commutation-money … made a dearth of dutifull children.
1784. Hist. of Europe, in Ann. Reg. (1784–5), 153/1. The act since known by the name of the Commutation-act.
1845. McCulloch, Taxation, II. iv. (1852), 191. The Commutation Act will have to undergo … important modifications.
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr. (1864), II. 55. The commutation system of the Church.
1881. C. A. Edwards, Organs, 91. There is another action for commanding the stops … called the ‘commutation pedal’ movement.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., II. App. 671. Excursion and commutation tickets issued at special rates.
