commons

from The Century Dictionary.

• The people; especially, the common people as distinguished from their rulers or a ruling class; hence, the mean; the vulgar; the rabble.
• Specifically The freemen of England as organized in their early shires, municipalities, and guilds; the represented people.
• In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and in the Dominion of Canada, the lower house of Parliament, consisting in both instances of the commoners chosen by the people as their representatives; the House of Commons. This title was also given to the lower branch of the legislature of North Carolina from 1776 to 1868.
• Food provided at a common table, as in colleges, where many persons eat at the same table or in the same hall; also, a college ordinary; food or fare in general.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun plural engraving The mass of the people, as distinguished from the titled classes or nobility; the commonalty; the common people.
• noun plural The House of Commons, or lower house of the British Parliament, consisting of representatives elected by the qualified voters of counties, boroughs, and universities.
• noun plural Provisions; food; fare, -- as that provided at a common table in colleges and universities.
• noun plural A club or association for boarding at a common table, as in a college, the members sharing the expenses equally.
• noun plural A common; public pasture ground.
• noun plural a place near St. Paul's Churchyard in London where the doctors of civil law used to common together, and where were the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts and offices having jurisdiction of marriage licenses, divorces, registration of wills, etc.
• noun plural [Colloq.] to have a small allowance of food.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun Plural form of common.
• noun A dining hall, usually at a college or university.
• noun A central section of (usually an older) town, designated as a shared area, a common.
• noun figuratively The mutual good of all; the abstract concept of resources shared by more than one, for example air, water, information.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a piece of open land for recreational use in an urban area
• noun a class composed of persons lacking clerical or noble rank
• noun a pasture subject to common use
• noun the common people