Definition of commissary Commissary

/kɑˈmʌsɛˌɹi/ - [kamuseree] - com•mis•sar•y

We found 12 definitions of commissary from 7 different sources.

What does commissary mean?

Noun Plural: commissaries
commissary - a retail store that sells equipment and provisions (usually to military personnel)
		shop, store a mercantile establishment for the retail sale of goods or services; "he bought it at a shop on Cape Cod"
		armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; "the military machine is the same one we faced in 1991 but now it is weaker"
		post exchange, px a commissary on a United States Army post
		slop chest commissary maintained aboard merchant ships to sell merchandise to the crew
commissary - a snack bar in a film studio

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commissary (n.)
One to whom is committed some charge, duty, or office, by a superior power; a commissioner.
commissary (n.)
An officer of the bishop, who exercises ecclesiastical jurisdiction in parts of the diocese at a distance from the residence of the bishop.
commissary (n.)
An officer having charge of a special service; as, the commissary of musters.
commissary (n.)
An officer whose business is to provide food for a body of troops or a military post; -- officially called commissary of subsistence.

commissary
kom′is-ar-i, n. one to whom any charge is committed: a deputy: (Scots law) the judge in a commissary court: a higher officer of police: (eccles.) an officer representing a bishop, and performing his duties in distant parts of the diocese: an officer who furnishes provisions, &c., to an army.—adj. Commissā′rial, pertaining to a commissary.—ns. Commissā′riat, the department charged with the furnishing of provisions, as for an army: the supply of provisions: the office of a commissary; Comm′issary-gen′eral, the head of the department for supplying provisions, &c., to an army; Comm′issaryship.—Commissary Court, a supreme court established in Edinburgh in 1563, with jurisdiction in questions of marriage—its powers conjoined with those of the Court of Session in 1836. [Low L. commissarius—L. committĕre, commissum.]

commissary
In general means any one to whom the power or authority of another is committed; used in military affairs in relation to officers who have charge of the subsistence of troops, musters, etc.