Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Passage

Pas′sage

,
Noun.
[F.
passage
. See
Pass
,
Verb.
I.
]
1.
The act of passing; transit from one place to another; movement from point to point; a going by, over, across, or through;
as, the
passage
of a man or a carriage; the
passage
of a ship or a bird; the
passage
of light; the
passage
of fluids through the pores or channels of the body.
What! are my doors opposed against my
passage
!
Shakespeare
2.
Transit by means of conveyance; journey, as by water, carriage, car, or the like; travel; right, liberty, or means, of passing; conveyance.
The ship in which he had taken
passage
.
Macaulay.
3.
Price paid for the liberty to pass; fare;
as, to pay one’s
passage
.
4.
Removal from life; decease; departure; death.
[R.]
“Endure thy mortal passage.”
Milton.
When he is fit and season'd for his
passage
.
Shakespeare
5.
Way; road; path; channel or course through or by which one passes; way of exit or entrance; way of access or transit. Hence, a common avenue to various apartments in a building; a hall; a corridor.
And with his pointed dart
Explores the nearest
passage
to his heart.
Dryden.
The Persian army had advanced into the . . .
passages
of Cilicia.
South.
6.
A continuous course, process, or progress; a connected or continuous series;
as, the
passage
of time
.
The conduct and
passage
of affairs.
Sir J. Davies.
The
passage
and whole carriage of this action.
Shakespeare
7.
A separate part of a course, process, or series; an occurrence; an incident; an act or deed.
“In thy passages of life.”
Shak.
The . . . almost incredible
passage
of their unbelief.
South.
8.
A particular portion constituting a part of something continuous; esp., a portion of a book, speech, or musical composition; a paragraph; a clause.
How commentators each dark
passage
shun.
Young.
9.
Reception; currency.
[Obs.]
Sir K. Digby.
10.
A pass or en encounter;
as, a
passage
at arms
.
No
passages
of love
Betwixt us twain henceforward evermore.
Tennyson.
11.
A movement or an evacuation of the bowels.
12.
In parliamentary proceedings:
(a)
The course of a proposition (bill, resolution, etc.) through the several stages of consideration and action;
as, during its
passage
through Congress the bill was amended in both Houses
.
(b)
The advancement of a bill or other proposition from one stage to another by an affirmative vote; esp., the final affirmative action of the body upon a proposition; hence, adoption; enactment;
as, the
passage
of the bill to its third reading was delayed
.
“The passage of the Stamp Act.”
D. Hosack.
The final question was then put upon its
passage
.
Cushing.
In passage
,
in passing; cursorily.
“These . . . have been studied but in passage.”
Bacon.
–
Middle passage
,
Northeast passage
,
Northwest passage
.
See under
Middle
,
Northeast
, etc.
–
Of passage
,
passing from one place, region, or climate, to another; migratory; – said especially of birds.
“Birds of passage.”
Longfellow.
–
Passage hawk
,
a hawk taken on its passage or migration.
–
Passage money
,
money paid for conveyance of a passenger, – usually for carrying passengers by water.
Syn. – Vestibule; hall; corridor. See
Vestibule
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Passage

P`ASSAGE

, n.
1.
The act of passing or moving by land or water, or through the air or other substance; as the passage of a man or a carriage; the passage of a ship or a fowl; the passage of light or a meteor; the passage of fluids through the pores of the body, or from the glands. Clouds intercept the passage of solar rays.
2.
The time of passing from one place to another. What passage had you? We had a passage of twenty five days to Havre de Grace, and of thirty eight days from England.
3.
Road; way; avenue; a place where men or things may pass or be conveyed.
And with his pointed dart,
Explores the nearest passage to this heart.
4.
Entrance or exit.
What! are my doors opposed against my passage?
5.
Right of passing; as, to engage a passage on board a ship bound to India.
6.
Occurrence; event; incident; that which happens; as a remarkable passage in the life of Newton. [See the Spanish verb, supra. This sense is obsolescent.]
7.
A passing away; decay. [Little used.]
8.
Intellectual admittance; mental reception.
Among whom I expect this treatise will have a fairer passage than among those deeply imbued with other principles.
9.
Manner of being conducted; management.
On consideration of the conduct and passage of affairs in former times--
10. Part of a book or writing; a single clause, place or part of indefinite extent.
How commentators each dark passage shun.
11. Enactment; the act of carrying through all the regular forms necessary to give validity; as the passage of a law, or of a bill into a law, by a legislative body.
Bird of passage, a fowl that passes at certain seasons from one climate to another, as in autumn to the south to avoid the winter's cold, and in spring to the north for breeding. Hence the phrase is sometimes applied to a man who has no fixed residence.

Definition 2024

Passage

Passage

See also: passage

German

Noun

Passage f ‎(genitive Passage, plural Passagen)

  1. Passage; a leg of a journey.

Declension

passage

passage

See also: Passage

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈpæsɪd͡ʒ/

Noun

passage ‎(plural passages)

  1. A paragraph or section of text or music with particular meaning.
    passage of scripture
    She struggled to play the difficult passages.
  2. Part of a path or journey.
    He made his passage through the trees carefully, mindful of the stickers.
  3. The official approval of a bill or act by a parliament.
    The company was one of the prime movers in lobbying for the passage of the act.
  4. (art) The use of tight brushwork to link objects in separate spatial plains. Commonly seen in Cubist works.
  5. A passageway or corridor.
  6. (caving) An underground cavity, formed by water or falling rocks, which is much longer than it is wide.
  7. (euphemistic) The ****.
    • 1986, Bertrice Small, A Love for All Time, New American Library, ISBN 9780451821416, page 463:
      With a look of triumph that he was unable to keep from his dark eyes he slid into her passage with one smooth thrust, […]
    • 1987, Usha Sarup, Expert Lovemaking, Jaico Publishing House, ISBN 978-81-7224-162-9, page 53:
      This way, the tip of your **** will travel up and down her passage.
    • 2009, Cat Lindler, Kiss of a Traitor, Medallion Press, ISBN 9781933836515, page 249:
      At the same moment, Aidan plunged two fingers deep into her passage and broke through her fragile barrier.
  8. The act of passing
    • 1886, Pacific medical journal Volume 29
      He claimed that he felt the passage of the knife through the ilio-cæcal valve, from the very considerable pain which it caused.
Derived terms
Translations
section of text or music

Verb

passage ‎(third-person singular simple present passages, present participle passaging, simple past and past participle passaged)

  1. (medicine) To pass a pathogen through a host or medium
    He passaged the virus through a series of goats.
    After 24 hours, the culture was passaged to an agar plate.
  2. (rare) To make a passage, especially by sea; to cross
    They passaged to America in 1902.

Etymology 2

From French passager, from Italian passeggiare

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpasɑːʒ/

Noun

passage ‎(plural passages)

  1. (dressage) A movement in classical dressage, in which the horse performs a very collected, energetic, and elevated trot that has a longer period of suspension between each foot fall than a working trot.
Translations

Verb

passage ‎(third-person singular simple present passages, present participle passaging, simple past and past participle passaged)

  1. (intransitive, dressage) To execute a passage movement
    • 1915, Cunninghame Graham, Hope, page 18:
      After a spring or two, the horse passaged and reared, and lighting on a flat slab of rock which cropped up in the middle of the road, slipped sideways and fell with a loud crash […]

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: touch · higher · military · #891: passage · wood · matters · physical

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: pas‧sa‧ge

Etymology

From passeren +‎ -age

Noun

passage f ‎(plural passages, diminutive passagetje n)

  1. A paragraph or section of text with particular meaning. ~ of scripture.
  2. a passage way in a city.

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pɑ.saːʒ/
  • Homophones: passagent, passages
  • Rhymes: -ɑʒ

Etymology 1

From Old French, from passer +‎ -age.

Noun

passage m ‎(plural passages)

  1. The act of going through a place or event.
  2. The time when such an act occurs.
  3. (uncountable) Circulation, traffic, movement.
  4. (astronomy) Moment when a star or planet occults another,or crosses a meridian.
  5. A short stay.
  6. A trip or travel, especially by boat.
  7. The act of going from a state to another.
  8. Graduation from a school year.
  9. The act of making something undergo a process.
  10. the act of handing something to someone.
  11. An access way.
  12. A laid out way allowing to go across something.
  13. An alley or alleyway off-limits to cars.
  14. A paragraph or section of text or music.
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Verb form of passager.

Verb

passage

  1. first-person singular present indicative of passager
  2. third-person singular present indicative of passager
  3. first-person singular present subjunctive of passager
  4. third-person singular present subjunctive of passager
  5. second-person singular imperative of passager

Old French

Noun

passage m ‎(oblique plural passages, nominative singular passages, nominative plural passage)

  1. passage (part of a route or journey)

Etymology

From French.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -aːʒə

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