commissariat
/ˌkɒmɪˈsɛːrɪət
/noun
1chiefly Military A department for the supply of food and equipment.A streamlined system should be created in cooperation with the military commissariats and educational agencies, enabling young men liable to conscription to learn the basics of military service and up their athletic skills....
- The direct selection of volunteers for The Reserves may be entrusted to preliminary selection centers, which should be organic divisions of military commissariats.
- As regards the mobilization of transport vehicles, the weakest link here today is ensuring their timely delivery to the assembly points of military commissariats and especially their roadworthiness and readiness for service.
2A government department of the USSR before 1946.Then, in the mid-1930s, the People's Commissariat for the Defense Industry was established which was subsequently, under the January 11, 1939 decree of the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium, divided up into five separate commissariats....
- He has made good use of other archival materials as well, including the papers of the commissariats of justice and health.
- Their business was still overshadowed by private arrangements between individuals, and the commissariat was to hold sway in foreign exchange dealings until the 1830s.
Origin
Late 16th century (as a Scots legal term denoting the jurisdiction of a commissary, often spelled commissariot): from French commissariat, reinforced by medieval Latin commissariatus, both from medieval Latin commissarius 'person in charge', from Latin committere 'entrust'.