COMMONWEALTH

Definitions

1. 1. A state; a body politic consisting of a certain number of men, united, by compact or tacit agreement, under one form of government and system of laws. The trappings of a monarchy would set up an ordinary commonwealth. Milton.
2. 2. The whole body of people in a state; the public.
3. 3. Specifically, the form of government established on the death of Charles I., in 1649, which existed under Oliver Cromwell and his son Richard, ending with the abdication of the latter in 1659.