ordered by a sovereign, as if by a sovereign, or by the exigencies of a situation: a command performance.
Origin: 1250–1300; (v.) Middle English coma(u)nden < Anglo-French com(m)a(u)nder,Old French comander < Medieval Latin commandāre, equivalent to Latin com-com- + mandāre to entrust, order (compare commend); (noun) late Middle English comma(u)nde < Anglo-French, Old French, noun derivative of the v.
c.1300, from O.Fr. comander "to order, enjoin," from V.L. *commandare, from L. commendare "to recommend" (see commend), alt. by influence of L. mandare "to commit, entrust" (see mandate). Replaced O.E. bebeodan. The noun is attested from 1550s. Commander in chief attested from 1650s.