noun
- Plural of commonage; the right to use or graze animals on common land shared by a community.
- Plural of commonage; land held in common by members of a community.
Usage: chiefly historical or legal; British English
Usage: chiefly historical; British English
Examples
- Medieval villages often granted commonages to local farmers for their livestock.
- The dispute over commonages between neighboring villages lasted for decades.
- Villagers exercised their commonages by allowing their sheep to graze on the shared meadow.
- The lord of the manor controlled access to the commonages.
- Loss of commonages forced many peasants to seek work in towns during the enclosure movement.