Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To pass or cross.
  • To walk sidewise: said of a saddle-horse. See the quotation.
  • noun In the manège, the movement of a horse when passaging; an advance sideways in obedience to the pressure of the rider's leg: a very showy movement, often executed in a march past.
  • noun A passing or moving from one place or state to another; movement, transit, or transference from point to point, place to place, state to state, hand to hand, etc.; a moving or going by, over, along, or through: as, the passage of a ship or of a bird; the passage of something through a tube or a sieve; the passage of the sunlight through the clouds.
  • noun A journey in some conveyance, especially a ship; a voyage.
  • noun A way or course through or by which a person or thing may pass; a path or way by which transit may be effected; means of entrance, exit, or transit; an avenue, channel, or path leading from one place to another, such as a narrow street or lane, an alley, a pass over a mountain or a ford over a river, a channel, a strait connecting two bodies of water, a ferry, etc.: as, the passages of Jordan (Judges xii. 6); the Gilolo passage in the Malay archipelago; the air-passages of the body.
  • noun Specifically An avenue or alley leading to the various divisions or apartments in a building; a gallery or corridor; a hall.
  • noun In some European cities, a section of a public street, or a short independent street, roofed in with glass, having shops on both sides, and usually or always closed to vehicles: as, the Passage du Havre in Paris.
  • noun Passage-money; fare; ferriage; toll; price paid for passing or for being carried between two points or places.
  • noun Liberty or power of passing; access; entry or exit.
  • noun Currency; reception.
  • noun That which passes or takes place, or has passed or taken place; incident; occurrence; happening; episode; event; doing; matter; affair; transaction.
  • noun A part of a writing or speech concerning a particular occurrence, matter, or point; a paragraph or clause.
  • noun A part of a conversation; a speech; a remark; a statement; an expression.
  • noun In music: A phrase or other definite division of a piece. A figure. A scale-like or arpeggiated group or series of tones introduced as an embellishment; a run, roulade, or flourish intended for display. A modulation.
  • noun A pass or encounter: as, a passage at arms.
  • noun The act of passing, enacting, or rendering valid; approval, sanction, or enactment; authoritative adoption and enactment, as of a parliamentary motion, measure, or bill: as, the passage of the bill through the House was accomplished with difficulty.
  • noun A passing away; departure; death.
  • noun An old game played by two persons with three dice.
  • noun Any quarrel, especially one of words; as. there was a grand passage of arms between them.
  • noun To make an outward or a home trip, as a vessel, as dis-tinguished from cruising about.
  • noun Synonyms Path, Pass, etc. See way.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of passing; transit from one place to another; movement from point to point; a going by, over, across, or through
  • noun Transit by means of conveyance; journey, as by water, carriage, car, or the like; travel; right, liberty, or means, of passing; conveyance.
  • noun Price paid for the liberty to pass; fare.
  • noun rare Removal from life; decease; departure; death.
  • noun 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.
  • noun A continuous course, process, or progress; a connected or continuous series.
  • noun A separate part of a course, process, or series; an occurrence; an incident; an act or deed.
  • noun A particular portion constituting a part of something continuous; esp., a portion of a book, speech, or musical composition; a paragraph; a clause.
  • noun obsolete Reception; currency.
  • noun A pass or en encounter.
  • noun A movement or an evacuation of the bowels.
  • noun In parliamentary proceedings: (a) The course of a proposition (bill, resolution, etc.) through the several stages of consideration and action. (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.
  • noun in passing; cursorily.
  • noun See under Middle, Northeast, etc.
  • noun passing from one place, region, or climate, to another; migratory; -- said especially of birds.
  • noun a hawk taken on its passage or migration.
  • noun money paid for conveyance of a passenger, -- usually for carrying passengers by water.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun 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.
  • verb intransitive, dressage To execute a passage movement
  • noun A paragraph or section of text or music with particular meaning.
  • noun Part of a path or journey.
  • noun The official approval of a bill or act by a parliament.
  • noun An artistic term describing use of tight brushwork to link objects in separate spatial plains. Commonly seen in Cubist works.
  • noun A passageway or corridor.
  • noun caving An underground cavity, formed by water or falling rocks, which is much longer than it is wide.
  • noun euphemistic The vagina.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French passager, from Italian passeggiare

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French passage, from passer ("to pass")

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word passage.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "Davaine's series of experiments marked the first demonstration of a phenomenon that became known as 'passage.' This phenomenon reflects an organism's ability to adapt to its environment. When an organism of weak pathogenicity passes from living animal to living animal, it reproduces more proficiently, growing and spreading more efficiently. This often increases virulence."

    —John M. Barry, The Great Influenza (NY: Penguin Books, 2004), 177

    February 14, 2009

  • voice

    July 23, 2009