Definition of commute
- v. t. - To exchange; to put or substitute something else in
place of, as a smaller penalty, obligation, or payment, for a greater,
or a single thing for an aggregate; hence, to lessen; to diminish; as,
to commute a sentence of death to one of imprisonment for life; to
commute tithes; to commute charges for fares.
- v. i. - To obtain or bargain for exemption or substitution; to
effect a commutation.
- v. i. - To pay, or arrange to pay, in gross instead of part by
part; as, to commute for a year's travel over a route.