commit

Less common meanings

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   In computing, to make a set of changes permanent, as in a database or a version control system.

   He committed the bug fix to the main branch this morning.

   Developers commit their changes several times a day on this project.

   UsageYou commit changes to a branch or repository: commit a fix to the main branch.

   Note

   Version control borrows the database word but changes what is made permanent. A set of changes is recorded as a new revision in the repository, which in systems like Git may stay local until it is shared. Each such act is itself called a commit. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Committing records changes as a new revision in the repository. git-scm.com
   • A Git commit can remain local until it is shared. git-scm.com
5. 5
   nouncountable

   In computing, an act of making changes permanent, such as submitting code to a repository; also the changes themselves.

   Every commit should include a short message describing the change.

   The bug appeared somewhere among yesterday's forty commits.

   UsageOften make a commit. In version control, a commit message usually describes the changes.

6. 6
   college recruitnouncolloquialUScountable

   A person, especially a high school athlete, who has verbally agreed or signed a letter pledging to attend a particular college or university.

   The coach announced three new commits during the press conference.

   As a junior, he became the earliest commit in the school's history.

   UsageOften used with a qualifier or school name: a verbal commit, a four-star commit.

   Similarrecruit, signee

   Note

   Recruiting talk turns the verb into a person. A player who commits to a school becomes a commit, and coaches announce them by the count: three new commits. The label covers both a spoken agreement and a signed letter.

7. 7
   entrustverbtransitive

   To give over to someone's care or keeping; to entrust or consign, typically with the preposition 'to.'

   The dying author committed her unpublished manuscripts to her closest friend.

   We commit these decisions to the judgment of the full committee.

   UsageCommon in commit something to memory, to paper and to someone's care.

   Similarentrust, consign, hand, deliver

   Note

   The receiver follows to: a task committed to a deputy, or a body committed to the grave in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. Older English could use unto instead, as the King James Bible of 1611 does: "Commit thy way unto the Lord." Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Titus Andronicus is attributed to William Shakespeare. folger.edu
   • Titus Andronicus contains an example of committing a dead person to the grave. shakespeare.mit.edu
   • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. commons.wikimedia.org
   • The King James Bible uses unto after commit and contains the quoted words in Psalm 37:5. en.wikisource.org
8. 8
   do wrongverbobsoleteintransitive

   To be perpetrated; to take place or occur, as a crime or other deed.

   Note

   The deed itself is the grammatical subject, and the verb takes no object. Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1749) describes calves lamenting "the Robbery which is then committing." That is a progressive with a passive meaning, where modern English would say "is being committed." Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • In this historical sense, commit is intransitive: the deed is the subject and there is no object. en.wiktionary.org
   • Henry Fielding wrote Tom Jones, first published in 1749. en.wikipedia.org
   • The novel describes calves lamenting the robbery using the quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
   • The quotation uses a progressive form with passive meaning, equivalent to is being committed. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   sex outside marriageverbobsoleteintransitive

   To offend or transgress; especially, to engage in sexual relations outside marriage.

   [K]eepe thy words Iusſtice, ſweare not, commit not, with mans ſworne Spouſe;

   c. 1603, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”

   Note

   Older English could leave the offense unspoken and let the bare verb carry it, and the offense it chiefly meant was sexual. Shakespeare's King Lear warns "commit not with man's sworn spouse," and John Florio's translation of Montaigne's Essayes (1603) imagines a son "committing with his mother." Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Historically, intransitive commit could mean committing an unspecified offense, especially a sexual offense. en.wiktionary.org
   • The quoted warning occurs in Shakespeare's King Lear; Edgar speaks it in Act III, scene iv. shakespeare.mit.edu
   • John Florio's English translation of Montaigne's Essayes was published in 1603. leicester.omeka.net
   • Florio's translation imagines a son committing with his mother, using the quoted wording. hyperessays.net
10. 10
    verbobsoleteintransitive

    To enter into a contest or to match oneself against an opponent, often followed by 'with.'

    For, in theſe ſtrifes, and on ſuch perſons, were as wretched to affect a victorie, as it is vnhappy to be committed with them.

    1616, Ben Jonson, “Poetaster. [To the Reader.]”

    Note

    Here commit means to set opponents against each other, the Latin "bring together" turned to combat. Ben Jonson's Poetaster calls it unhappy "to be committed with" such persons, and Richard Gilpin's Dæmonologia Sacra (1677) has fire and water "committed together." Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • The contest sense means bringing opponents into conflict and occurs with 'with' or 'together'. en.wiktionary.org
    • The word derives from Latin committō, which meant 'bring together'. en.wiktionary.org
    • Ben Jonson's Poetaster contains the quoted wording; it appears in Jonson's address 'To the Reader'. gutenberg.org
    • Richard Gilpin wrote Dæmonologia Sacra, first published in 1677. gutenberg.org
    • Gilpin describes fire and water as 'committed together'. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To confound; to mix up or confuse one thing with another.

    Harry whoſe tuneful and well meaſur'd Song / Firſt taught our Engliſh Muſick how to ſpan / Words with juſt note and accent, not to ſcan / With Midas Ears, committing ſhort and long;

    1673, John Milton, “[Sonnet] XIII. To Mr. H. Lawes, on his Aires.”

    Note

    The Latin behind the word shows through plainly. Committō meant "bring together, compare," and things committed here are run together when they ought to stay apart. Milton's sonnet to Henry Lawes (1648) praises a composer who fitted words to music rather than "committing short and long," jumbling long and short syllables like Midas. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Latin committō, the source of commit, meant 'bring together, compare'. en.wiktionary.org
    • The historical sense under discussion is to confound things. en.wiktionary.org
    • John Milton's sonnet addressed to Henry Lawes was first published in 1648. celm.folger.edu
    • The sonnet praises Lawes's fitting of words to music and contains 'committing short and long' and the allusion to Midas. gutenberg.org