an interchange of goods or commodities, especially on a large scale between different countries (foreign commerce) or between different parts of the same country (domestic commerce); trade; business.
2.
social relations, especially the exchange of views, attitudes, etc.
3.
sexual intercourse.
4.
intellectual or spiritual interchange; communion.
5.
(initial capital letter) Also called Commerce Department.Informal. the Department of Commerce.
Origin: 1530–40; < Middle French < Latin commercium, equivalent to commerc(ārī) to trade together (com-com- + mercārī to buy, deal, derivative of merc-, stem of merx goods) + -ium-ium