côm·merce, n.

In case you ever wondered what electronic commerce was about, consider the following definitions of the word commerce. These definitions come from reputable dictionaries.
  1. The exchange or buying and selling of commodities; esp. the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic.
    The public becomes powerful in proportion to the opulence and extensive commerce of private men. --Hume.
  2. Social intercourse; the dealings of one person or class in society with another; familiarity.
    Fifteen years of thought, observation, and commerce with the world had made him [Bunyan] wiser. --Macaulay.
  3. Sexual intercourse. -W. Montagu.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

  1. financial transactions, esp. the buying and selling of merchandise, on a large scale.
  2. social intercourse (the daily commerce of gossip and opinion).
  3. archaic sexual intercourse*.

Source: Oxford's Concise Dictionary

Pronunciation: 'kä-(")m&rs
Etymology: Middle French, from Latin commercium, from com- + merc-, merx merchandise
Date: 1537
  1. social intercourse : interchange of ideas, opinions, or sentiments
  2. the exchange or buying and selling of commodities on a large scale involving transportation from place to place
  3. sexual intercourse

Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary

* Since when did sexual intercourse become archaic?

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