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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Community \Com*mu"ni*ty\, noun; pl. {Communities}. [L. communitas: cf. OF. communit['e]. Cf. {Commonalty}, and see {Common}.]
1. Common possession or enjoyment; participation; as, a community of goods.
The original community of all things. --Locke.
An unreserved community of thought and feeling. --W. Irving.
2. A body of people having common rights, privileges, or interests, or living in the same place under the same laws and regulations; as, a community of monks. Hence a number of animals living in a common home or with some apparent association of interests.
Creatures that in communities exist. --Wordsworth.
3. Society at large; a commonwealth or state; a body politic; the public, or people in general.
Burdens upon the poorer classes of the community. --Hallam.
Note: In this sense, the term should be used with the definite article; as, the interests of the community.
4. Common character; likeness. [R.]
The essential community of nature between organic growth and inorganic growth. --H. Spencer.
5. Commonness; frequency. [Obs.]
Eyes . . . sick and blunted with community. --Shak.
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