Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - commute

 I. verb  (~d; commuting)  Etymology: Middle English, from Latin commutare to change, exchange, from com- + mutare to change — more at mutable  Date: 15th century  transitive verb  1.  a. change, alter  b. to give in exchange for another ; exchange  2. to convert (as a payment) into another form  3. to change (a penalty) to another less severe ~ a death sentence to life in prison  4. commutate  intransitive verb  1. make up, compensate  2. to pay in gross  3. to travel back and forth regularly (as between a suburb and a city)  4. to yield the same mathematical result regardless of order — used of two elements undergoing an operation or of two operations on elements  • commutable adjective  II. noun  Date: 1954  1. an act or an instance of commuting  2. the distance covered in commuting a long ~