D defs.my
Menu ☰
Entry 12 senses Webster, 1913

Passage

/păs'-əj/ · Pas·sage · IPA /ˈpæsɪd͡ʒ/
01 n. 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 …
  1. 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!” — Shak.
  2. 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. 3.
    Price paid for the liberty to pass; fare; as, to pay one's passage.
  4. 4.
    Removal from life; decease; departure; death.[R.]
    “When he is fit and season'd for his passage.” — Shak.
  5. 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. 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.” — Shak.
  7. 7.
    A separate part of a course, process, or series; an occurrence; an incident; an act or deed.
    “The . . . almost incredible passage of their unbelief.” — South.
  8. 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. 9.
    Reception; currency.[Obs.]
  10. 10.
    A pass or en encounter; as, a passage at arms.
    “No passages of love Betwixt us twain henceforward evermore.” — Tennyson.
  11. 11.
    A movement or an evacuation of the bowels.
  12. 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 final question was then put upon its passage.” — Cushing.
Phrases & compounds
In passage — in passing; cursorily.
Middle passage — See under Middle, Northeast, etc.
Of passage — passing from one place, region, or climate, to another; migratory; -- said especially of birds.
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.