▪ I. passage, n.
(ˈpæsɪdʒ)
[a. F. passage, pasage (11th c. in Hatz.-Darm.) = Pr. passatge, Sp. pasage, It. passaggio, a Romanic formation from passer, passare to pass: see -age.]
I. The action of passing, and cognate senses.
1. a. The action of passing; a going or moving onward, across, or past; movement from one place or point to another, or over or through a space or medium; transition, transit.
Const. of (or with possessive) indicating the person or thing that passes; more rarely of = objective genitive.
| c 1290 Beket 682 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 126 He wende eft in-to þe se, þe passage for-to fonde. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 233 He wolde..The passage of the water take. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 1 The passage of the chyldren of Israel from Egypte. 1558 Grafton (title) The Passage of our most drad Soveraigne Lady Queen Elyzabeth through the City of London to Westminster. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 19 Yeeld to the wynds passadge, duck downe theire fleete with a tempest. 1615 W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. (1626) 4 So as the Water may be staied from passage. 1702 Rowe Tamerl. ii. i 546 Not far from hence The Captives were to wait the Emperor's Passage. 1768 Ann. Reg. 67 To observe..the passage of Venus over the sun's disk on the 3d of June 1769. 1869 Tyndall Notes Lect. Light 20 In the passage from one medium to another of a different refractive index, light is always reflected. 1885 Watson & Burbury Math. Th. Electr. & Magn. I. 236 A cell in which no chemical actions can take place on the passage of the current. |
b. The passing of people; hence nearly
= people passing, passers.
rare.
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iii. i. 99 If by strong hand you offer to breake in Now in the stirring passage of the day. 1604 ― Oth. v. i. 37 What hoa? No Watch? No passage? Murther, Murther. 1886 Stevenson Dr. Jekyll 4 Even on Sunday, when it [the street] lay comparatively empty of passage. |
c. The ‘passing’ or extending of a line, string, or the like, from one point to another.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 485 They are like to nerues in their passage, colour and vse. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 247 It divides, after a short passage, into four very distinct bundles. |
d. The migration or migratory flight of birds. See also
quot. 1879.
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 267 At the approach of winter, it totally disappears, and its passage can be traced to no other country. 1879 E. D. Radcliffe in Encycl. Brit. IX. 7/2 The line herons take over a tract of country on their way to and from the heronry when procuring food in the breeding season is called a ‘passage’. |
e. of passage (
= F.
de passage):
† (
a) That passes through a place or state, without continuing in it; transitory.
Obs. exc. as in (
b)
bird of passage, a bird that migrates from one region to another at a particular season and returns at another, a migratory bird;
esp. = passage-migrant (sense 16 b below); also
fig.; (
slang), a tramp; so
fish of passage.
| 1673 Temple Ess. Trade Irel. Wks. 1720 I. 120 The poorer Traders, or the young Beginners, or those of Passage. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Birds of Passage... There are also fishes of passage, as herrings, mackerel, etc. 1728 Chambers Cycl. II. 758/2 Birds of Passage, are such as only come at certain Seasons, and then disappear again. 1732 Pope Ep. Cobham 97 In Man, the judgment shoots at flying game, A bird of passage! gone as soon as found. 1763 J. Bell Trav. from St. Petersburg I. 188 As for water-fowl..they are also birds of passage. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. I. 150 The ..entertainments of Bath are over for this season; and all our gay birds of passage have taken their flight to Bristol-well, Tunbridge..&c. 1785 E. Sheridan Jrnl. (1960) 52 Our young Man is I find only a Bird of passage so the lady will be our only dinner companion. 1789 G. White Selborne i. x. 29 Mr. Stillingfleet makes a question whether the blackcap (motacilla atricapilla) be a bird of passage or not. 1797 Holcroft Stolberg's Trav. (ed. 2) III. lxxxiv. 348 The sword fish is a fish of passage. 1853 Dickens Bleak Ho. xl. 398 My Lady has been but poorly..when she was here as a bird of passage—like. 1879 M. E. Braddon Clov. Foot xxviii, I am only in town as a bird of passage. 1879 Mrs. C. Cook Comic Hist. N.S.W. 49 It was a speculation by a bird of passage, one (poor little) Sparrow. 1893 A. Newton Dict. Birds ii. 550/1 Others again—and these are strictly speaking the ‘Birds of Passage’—which shew themselves but twice a year, passing through the country without staying long in it. 1896 E. Dowson Let. c 4 June (1967) 366 People arrive daily; most of them, however, birds of passage. 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. 103 Traveller and commercial traveller, together with food inspector, bird of passage, wallaby tracker, tourist, footman and professional pedestrian, are often applied to itinerants. 1960 Guardian 13 Oct. 12/3 As a ‘bird of passage’ the graduate tended to be supernumerary in the various departments. 1963 Times 20 Apr. 5/4 There is a need to differentiate between the birds of passage and those who give a lifetime to the profession. |
2. a. In various
fig. senses: Transition from one state or condition to another (
spec. from this life to the next, by death); the passing or lapse of time; the going on, course, or progress of events, etc., or of a person through a course of action; a passing in thought or speech from one point, idea, or subject to another.
† in passage, in passing, by the way (
obs.).
| c 1430 Life St. Kath. (1884) 67 Wyth good passage out of thys lyf. 1516 Life St. Bridget in Myrr. our Ladye p. lii, A lytel before hir blessyd passage out of this world. 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Familye of Love 52 The bookes of H. N. do make a more easie passage..to the vnderstandyng thereof. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. Ded. §8 These fundamental knowledges have been studied but in passage. 1769 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. ii. (1876) 317 Students..this day rewarded for their happy passage through the first period. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 206 There is a passage between this and ordinary travertin. 1839 Murchison Silur. Syst. i. xxxiv. 450 The passage of the red marl into the lias is here well exposed. 1871 B. Stewart Heat §85 The passage of bodies from the solid to the liquid state. |
† b. absol. ‘Departure’, death.
Obs.| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 261 Bot ate laste of thi passage Thi deth was to the houndes like. 1507 in Wood Oxford (O.H.S.) III. 116 By pestilence I had my passage. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. iii. 86 When he is fit and season'd for his passage. 1693 Humours Town 13 A perpetual Requiem for your Soul before its Passage. |
c. rites of passage: see
rite 1 d.
3. a. Possibility, power, or opportunity of passing; liberty, leave, or right to
pass. (
lit. and
fig.)
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 30 Þei purueied hir passage, And led hir vnto France, spoused forto be. 1417 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iv. I. 63 That ye oure Chanceller doo make unto thaim soufficeant Writtes of passage. 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 68 She made passage to her choller in these termes of contempt. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 122 All approach farr off to fright, And guard all passage to the Tree of Life. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India II. 79 The refusal to give a passage through Nepal to a British force intended to take possession of Lassa. |
† b. Admission or permission.
Obs.| 1622 Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. xvii. vii, He [Solomon] gave not passage onely to the Idolatry of his heathenish wives, but furtherance. |
4. a. A definite passing or travelling from one place to another, by sea, or formerly sometimes by land; a journey; a voyage across the sea from one port to another, a crossing.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 19990 Þis it was þe first passage Þat þe apostels in parti Mad mang þe folk o paeni. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 97 Þus he passes to þat port, his passage to seche, Fyndez he a fayr schyp to þe fare redy. a 1529 Skelton Sp. Parrot 324 Prepayre yow, Parrot, breuely your passage to take, Of Mercury undyr the trynall aspecte. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 87 Foorth we take oure passadge, oure sayles ful winged vp hoysting. 1776 Hist. Eur. in Ann. Reg. 8/2 Nor was the march by land more eligible than the passage by water. 1815 Chron. ibid. 108/1 A vessel is arrived in the Thames from New South Wales after an extraordinarily short passage of less than five months. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xi, He had suffered all the horrors of a passage in a slave ship. 1877 Talmage 50 Serm. 16 You have found a rough passage. |
b. Right of transit or conveyance as a passenger,
esp. by sea; accommodation of a passenger.
to work one's passage: see
work v. 12 h.
| 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 6 Carasio..having agreed with the mariners for their passage, acquainted therewith Polemiro. 1743 Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 199 That the Governor would give us a Pass, and that we would work for our Passage. 1782 Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 8 June, I have this day taken a passage to Oxford. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 646 And clothes they gave him and free passage home. |
† 5. A charge or custom levied upon passengers: a toll.
Obs.| [1200 Charter K. John in Reg. S. Osmundi (Rolls) I. 212 Sint quieti..de theoloneo, pontagio, passagio.] ? c 1525 Robyn Hode in Child Ballads (1857–9) V. 425 Yet was he never so curteyse a potter, As one peny passage to paye. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey iii. iv. 70 Immunities and Exemptions from Theolonie, Pontage,..Passage, Tranage,..Cariage, &c. 1710 J. Harris Lex. Techn. II, Passage, Passagium, was a Tribute or Toll paid by Passengers or Travellers for the Repair or Maintenance of some Road or Passage. 1812 Seyer Bristol Charters Engl. 1 My burgesses of Bristol..shall be quit both of toll and passage, and all custom, throughout my whole land. 1883 Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. I. 6 They claim to be quit of..passage, pontage and lastage. |
† 6. The fact of ‘passing current’ or being generally accepted, as coins, customs, etc.; currency, general reception.
Obs.| 1545 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 10 Double dukatis..quhilkis commonly hes course in France for lxxx and xvis. and ar worth samekle to have passage in this realm. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. v. §3 As if the multitude..were not ready to give passage rather to that which is popular and superficial. 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies viii. 53, I would..render this treatise intelligible to euery rationall man..(among whom I expect it will haue a fairer passage, then among those that are already deepely imbued with other principles). |
7. The passing into law of a legislative measure.
| 1587 Harrison England ii. viii. (1877) i. 178 This is the order of the passage of our lawes. 1668 Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 249 It is a businesse of that weight that I scarce believe it can have a passage this session. 1669–70 Ibid. 311 [The Bill] had but a narrow passage, there being only 100 for it against 99. 1856 C. Beck Age Petronius Arbiter 73 Soon after,..for the precise time of its passage is not known—the lex Furia Caninia was enacted. 1893 Times 2 May 10/1 The passage of any measure resembling this would be a deadly blow at landed property in Ireland. 1931 J. T. Adams Epic of Amer. ix. 240 The passage of a more stringent fugitive-slave law. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 3/5 She rejected a request from Edward Schreyer (NDP, Springfield) that passage of the clause be postponed until members had had a chance to think about it. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia VII. 875/2 He could not prevent the passage of the bill. |
8. Horsemanship. See
quots. (
= F.
passage.)
| 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Passage, in the manage, an action wherein the horse raises two legs together, a hind and a fore leg, in form of St. Andrew's cross; when, setting those two on the ground again, he raises the other two; and thus alternately. 1884 E. L. Anderson Mod. Horseman. ii. xvii. 146 The Passage..is a slow brilliant trot, in which the horse brings each pair of diagonal legs to the ground at exactly the same moment... Usually employed in traversing. |
9. Med. An evacuation of the bowels, a ‘motion’; also
concr.| 1778 Prince of Wales in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 416 He took medicine three or four times during the day in order to procure a passage. 1809 Med. Jrnl. XXI. 480 He..has been repeatedly from eighteen to twenty-five days without a passage. 1875 H. C. Wood Therap. (1879) 106 Late in the attack the passages are in most cases very light clay-colored, or even whitish. |
10. a. The action of causing something to pass (in various senses: see
pass v.); transmission, transference, etc.
rare.
| 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 20 As fine as if produced by the passage of a rake. 1890 in Financial News 31 July 1/4 The passage of the preferred dividend by the directors of the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway is regarded as consistent with policy. 1890 Spectator 16 Aug. 197/1 The passage of a great measure has become as difficult to effect as the passage of a cannon-ball through earthworks. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 73 The unskilful passage of an œsophageal bougie. |
b. Med. and
Biol. A stage in the maintenance of a strain of micro-organisms or cells, from inoculation into a host organism or culture medium, through a period of multiplication, to extraction; the process of passing micro-organisms or cells through a series of hosts or cultures in this way, so as to maintain them or modify their virulence. Freq. with
pronunc. (
pæˈsɑːʒ).
| 1896 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 531 The virulence of many organisms may..be permanently or temporarily increased..by passing the organisms through a series of animals (a process which is called ‘passage’). 1926 G. H. Smith tr. F. d'Herelle's Bacteriophage iv. 160 The virulence of a bacteriophage may be exalted by successive passages in suspensions of a susceptible bacterium. 1945 Jrnl. Immunol. LI. 390 A chorio-allantoic suspension of the 259th chick embryo passage. 1947 Jrnl. Exper. Med. LXXXV. 24 The virus was maintained by occasional lung passage in albino Swiss mice. 1973 Nature 18 May 163/1 These tumours are transplantable and have been transplanted for up to six consecutive passages. |
II. 11. a. That by which a person or thing passes or may pass; a way, road, path, route, channel; a mountain pass; an entrance or exit.
Locally a name for a narrow entry or lane in a town, etc., serving as the approach to a row of houses, or as a thoroughfare for foot-passengers;
e.g. Norman Passage,
St. Helen's Passage (Oxford),
All Saints' Passage (Cambridge).
| c 1290 Beket 56 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 108 Heo cam to þe se: and redi fond hire passage. a 1300 K. Horn 1323 To kepe þis passage, Fram horn þat is of age. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1394 Þis world es þe way and passage, Þurgh whilk lyes our pilgrimage. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2139 And loke þat hirde-men wel kepe þe komune passage, And eche brugge þer a-boute þat burnes ouer wende. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxiii. 222 At an hongyng bought of the more in a streit passage. 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 41 In any towne or village being a thoroughfare or common passag within this realme. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 8 Into the frosen sea..and so forth to Cathay (yf any suche passage may be found). 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xxii. 29 Doria..was tarrying for vs at the passage with 5 principal gallies. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 6 Inuironed with mountaines which hath fewe and secret passages. 1627–8 in Swayne Sarum Church-w. Acc. (1896) 187 The open passadge in the middell of the Churche. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 6 He had already sent one ship..for a new attempt upon the North-West or North-East passages. 1801 Southey Thalaba vi. xiv, Was it the toil of human hands Had hewn a passage in the rock? 1812 Gen. Hist. in Ann. Reg. 137/2 They weighed anchor, and made sail through the passage Taigneuse. 1828 [see passenger 1]. 1856 Stanley Sinai & Pal. iv. (1858) 217 As the passage of Beth-horon led up to Gibeon, so the passage of Michmash and Ai led up to Bethel. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 22 Freeing the liver and its bile passages from their injurious presence. |
b. spec. A place at which a river or strait is or may be crossed; a crossing; a ford, ferry, or bridge. ?
Obs.| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 14012 An heremitage Bysyde Chymoun, at a passage. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vii. vi, There was a grete ryuer and but one passage. 1477 Paston Lett. III. 203 Wherefore my lord hath do brokyn all the passages except Newham bryge. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lii. 176 When I cam to ony passage of water he wolde caste me in his necke..& bere me ouer. 1611 Bible Judg. xii. 6 Then they tooke him, and slewe him at the passages of Iordan. 1779 S. Rudder Gloucestershire 492 In this parish are two ferries over the Severn. The uppermost, or Old Passage, is in the Tything of Aust... The New Passage is at Redwick. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. vii. (1856) 50 Its several ‘crossings’ have been divided into the South, the Middle, and the Northern passages. |
c. A way giving access to the various apartments or divisions of a building, or affording communication from one apartment to another; a corridor or gallery; a lobby or hall.
| 1611 Coryat Crudities 202 At the West end of this glorious Councell hall..there is a passage into another most stately roome. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 23 By convenient passages about or under them. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 371 In Building of Houses long, the use of some Rooms will be lost, in that the more room must be allowed for Entries and Passages. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 207, I was in the passage, or entry of the house. 1810 Crabbe Borough xx. 66 Hark to the winds! which through the wide saloon And the long passage send a dismal tune. 1835 G. A. McCall Lett. fr. Frontiers (1868) 280 The house..was one of those structures called in the West ‘two pens and a passage’. |
† 12. ? A means of passing; a vessel or vehicle in which a person or thing may pass; a conveyance.
Cf. carriage.
Obs. rare.
| 1473 Paston Lett. III. 94, I praye yow wrycht ageyn, and sende it by the next passage. |
III. 13. a. Something that ‘passes’, goes on, takes place, occurs, or is done; an occurrence, incident, event; an act, transaction, proceeding.
Obs. or
arch. (
exc. as in b and c).
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 731 Surely it was a daungerous passage to conuey a prince in a straunge realme, by such a strayte. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. ii. 77 There is no christian..can euer beleeue such impossible passages of grossenesse. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1639) B vj b, Observing the whole passages of the diseased people, considering both when they began to bee sicke,..what hath been applyed [etc.]. 1624 Dk. Buckhm. in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 180 [It] will facilitate..those passages of favors, grace, and goodnes which his Majesty hath promised for the ease of the Romaine Catholickes. 1671–2 Sir C. Lyttelton in Hatton Corr. (Camden) 76 There has lately happened a very strange passage upon occasion of [etc.]. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 198 ¶1 Her Life has lately met with Passages very uncommon. a 1741 T. Chalkley Jrnl. an. 1734 Wks. (1751) 265 A remarkable and dismal Passage he related to me. 1820 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Old Benchers, I remember a pleasant passage, of the cook applying to him..for instructions how to write down edge bone of beef. 1866 Kingsley Herew. xvi, The magnificent young Scot sprang to him,..talked over old passages. |
b. Something that passes between two persons mutually; a negotiation; an interchange of communications, confidences, or amorous relations.
| 1612 N. Field Woman is Weathercock ii. i. in Hazl. Dodsley XI. 33 And such strange passages and mutual vows. 1647 Sprigge Anglia Rediv. iii. vi. (1854) 165 Several passages between the prince and his excellency, and between his excellency and Goring. 1649 Milton Eikon. viii. 68 The King..gives..order to stop all passages between him [the Governor of Hull] and the Parlament. 1845 R. W. Hamilton Pop. Educ. vi. (1846) 138 Would not both parties profit in these passages of confidence? a 1901 Besant Five Years' Tryst, etc. (1902) 108 She was by no means ignorant of certain passages and rumours of passages between Will Stephen and this simple country maid. 1920 Brit. Mus. Return 115 in Parl. Papers XXXVI. 673 The threatened extermination of the Elephants in the Addo Bush..has led to the passage of a number of letters between the Museum and various writers. |
c. (Now usually
passage of (or at) arms.) An exchange of blows between two combatants, a fight; also
fig. a verbal altercation or dispute; an amorous fence or encounter.
| 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. v. ii, You have your passages and imbrocatas in courtship; as the bitter bob in wit. 1612 Two Noble K. v. iv. 114 The conquerd triumphes, The victor has the losse; yet in the passage The gods have beene most equall. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. iii. 267 Luther..had not forgotten his early passage at arms with the English Defender of the Faith. 1876 Trevelyan Macaulay I. iii. 136 That passage of arms against the champions of the Utilitarian Philosophy. 1879 Stevenson Trav. Cevennes (1886) 12, I returned it to its maker, with whom I had so contumelious a passage that the street outside was crowded..with gossips..listening. 1885 Manch. Exam. 21 Mar. 6/2 The most interesting part of the debate was a smart passage at arms between his Grace and Lord Bramwell. |
14. a. An indefinite portion of a discourse or writing, usually of small or moderate length, taken by itself; a part of a speech or literary work relating to some particular matter.
| c 1611 Chapman Iliad ii. Comm. (1865) 57 His interpreters must needs come [short] of him in his strait and deep places, when in his open and fair passages they halt and hang back so. 1686 South Serm. (1697) II. ix. 386, I shall give you the whole Passage in his own Words. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 2 ¶1 He..gained universal Applause by explaining a Passage in the Game-Act. 1802 M. Edgeworth Mor. T. (1816) I. xv. 130 To look for the passage in the original author. 1891 Speaker 2 May 533/1 The paper contains brilliant passages, notably an admirable estimate of Gautier. |
† b. A part of a discourse or writing in which the author passes or turns aside for a time to some other subject; a digression.
Obs.| 1625 Bacon Ess., Dispatch (Arb.) 247 Prefaces, and Passages,..and other Speeches of Reference to the Person, are great wasts of Time. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 102 The first discourse, was..intermixt with recreative passages. |
† c. The ‘passing’ or utterance of an opinion or the like; a remark, observation (in speech or writing); a phrase, expression.
Obs.| a 1649 Winthrop Hist. New Eng. (1853) I. 247 One of the assistants using some pathetical passages of the loss of such a governour in a time of such danger. 1651 W. Lilly (title) Monarchy or No Monarchy in England. Grebner his Prophecy... Passages upon the Life and Death of the late King Charles. a 1657 Bradford Plymouth Plant. (1856) 307, I would..deliver y⊇ truth..as nere as I can, in their owne words and passages. 1660 Trial Regic. 44 Being there, I did observe some Passages fall from the Prisoner at the Bar; the words were to this purpose. |
d. Mus. (
a) ?
orig. A progression from one note to another by intermediate notes (
passing-notes); ? hence, A short series of such notes, or of small notes in general; a run or flourish; a figure or phrase.
Obs. exc. as applied (rarely) to ornamental runs or flourishes introduced for display. (
b) In
mod. use (associated with 14): A portion of a composition, of indefinite but moderate length, and forming more or less of a unity.
| 1674 Playford Skill Mus. i. xi. 39 Observing the same Rule in making the passages of Division by some few Quavers to Notes and to Cadences, not exceeding the Value of half a Semibreve at most. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Passage, or Passo, in music, a portion of an air, or tune, consisting of several short notes, as quavers, demi-quavers, etc. lasting one, two, or at most three measures. 1767 Ess. in Ann. Reg. 199/2 The Italians solfa'd our most pathetic airs, without discovering either passage or tune. 1776 Burney Hist. Mus. (1789) I. v. 62 In no one of the seven treatises upon ancient music is a single air or passage of Greek melody come down to us. 1859 Tennyson Lancelot & Elaine 891–2 As a little helpless innocent bird, That has but one plain passage of few notes, Will sing the simple passage o'er and o'er For all an April morning. 1880 C. H. H. Parry in Grove's Dict. Mus. II. 661. |
e. In the phraseology of art criticism: A particular part or detail in a picture;
spec., an area of a picture where one tone merges into another; the technique of achieving this effect.
| 1861 Thornbury Turner I. 142 In the earliest Saxon and Old English MSS. are to be found passages of transparent colour. 1897 Mag. Art Nov. 39 There are passages which represent the original with curious felicity. 1961 M. Levy Studio Dict. Art Terms 84 Passage... Also used to describe the transition from one tone to another, by means of a half-tone. 1962 Listener 15 Feb. 304/1 They [sc. the Cubists] exaggerated his [sc. Cézanne's] use of his device known as passage by which the near end of a plane is clearly defined while the far end dissolves into space. 1962 R. G. Haggar Dict. Art Terms 247/2 Passage, a term used to describe a certain area of paint on a picture where one color or tone merges into another, where some special technique has been used, or where there may be over-painting by another hand. 1967 J. N. Barron Lang. of Painting 143 These passages are used to relate volumes or three-dimensional forms to the two-dimensional picture frame. |
f. gen. An indefinite portion of a course of action; an episode. (
Cf. 13.)
rare.
| 1879 S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Pal. xiv. 315 The track to-day was an easy one, and indeed the whole route from Sinai offered no passages of extreme difficulty. 1897 Ld. Tennyson Life Tennyson I. ii. 40 Despite such passages of gloom he worked on. |
IV. [The
passing or exceeding of ten
= It. passa-dieci, F.
passe-dix,
i.e. pass-ten.]
† 15. An obsolete game at dice: see
quot. 1680.
| 1426 Lydg. De. Guil. Pilgr. 11194 And affter pleyn at the merellys, Now at the dees, in my yong age, Bothe at hassard & passage. 1522 World & Child in Hazl. Dodsley I. 266 And then we will with lombards at passage play. 1598 Florio, Passa dieci, a game at dice called passage or aboue ten. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. Prol. 12 You that knowe what it is to play at primero, or passage. 1680 Cotton Compl. Gamester 119 Passage is a Game at dice to be played at but by two, and it is performed with three Dice. The Caster throws continually till he hath thrown Dubblets under ten, and then he is out and loseth; or Dubblets above ten, and then he passeth and wins. 1739–40 Act 13 Geo. II, c. 19 §9 A certain game called Passage is now daily practiced and carried on, to the ruin and impoverishment of many of his Majesty's subjects. 1755 Mem. Capt. P. Drake II. xvi. 262, [1740] The Games of Rowly Powly and Passage..all these Games were suppressed by Parliament, and, on severe Penalties, not to be played after the 25th of March 1745. |
V. 16. attrib. and
Comb. a. Used or serving for the passage or conveyance of passengers,
esp. across the sea or a river, as
passage-barge,
passage-bark,
passage-canoe,
passage-hoy,
passage-ship,
passage-wagon; of transition, transitional, as
passage-form,
passage-time; also in other senses, as
passage-bell,
passage-gallery (11 c),
passage-work (14 d).
b. Special combs.:
passage-bed (
Geol.), a stratum showing transition from one formation to another;
passage-bird, (
a)
= bird of passage (see 1 e); (
b)
= passage-hawk;
passage-board, a board placed between the parts of an organ to make them accessible for tuning or repairs;
† passage-book = pass-book 1;
passage-free adv., free of charge for passage or conveyance;
† passage-gelt,
-gilt [see
gelt n.2]
= passage-money;
passage grave Archæol., an underground burial chamber connected with the surface by a passage; also
attrib.;
passage-hawk, a falcon taken when full-grown, during its ‘passage’ or migration, for the purpose of training (
opp. to
eyas);
† passage-house, a privy;
passage-migrant, a bird that stays for a short time in an area on the route of its migration to summer or winter quarters; also
fig.;
passage-penny, a penny charged for passage or fare;
passage-room, a room serving as a passage to another, or through which one passes to another;
† passage-thermometer (see
quot.);
passage-work Mus., a passage of a composition which calls for virtuosic display; the execution of such a passage. Also
passage-boat, -money,
-way.
| 1804 Europ. Mag. XLV. 443/1 Going from Fontainbleau to Dijon, in the *passage barge. |
| 1865 Reader No. 147. 465/1 The *passage-beds of Herefordshire. |
| 1825 Eng. Life II. 231 The *passage-bell rung loudly. |
| 1852 R. F. Burton Falconry in Valley of Indus iv. 41 Hawks..are of two kinds, the ‘eyess’ (or nyess), and the ‘*passage-bird’. 1878 C. Stanford Symb. Christ v. 139 The passage bird is never lost. High over the waves of the Atlantic it strikes a right path to its home a thousand leagues away. |
| 1880 C. A. Edwards Organs (1881) 59 A *passage-board for the use of the tuner. |
| 1816 in Merivale Rep. Cases Chancery I. 535 A book, called a *passage-book, is opened by the bankers, and delivered by them to the customer. |
| 1901 Nature 3 Jan. 234/2 He finds that..*passage-forms prove to be the rule, while sharply-defined and typical species are the exception. |
| 1928 Daily Express 28 Aug. 3/7 She..brings to Canada almost *passage-free any man of good health and physique who is an experienced agriculturist. |
| a 1615 Sir S. D'Ewes Autobiog. (1845) II. 334 My Lord..laid it in a *passage-gallery, in several papers. |
| 1712 Thoresby Diary (1830) II. 164 Baldock-lanes, notorious for their badness, as the neighbourhood for exaction of *passage-gelt through the enclosures. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. xxxii. 388 In the whole, it cost me about 1{pstlg}. Sterl. for Passage-gilt. 1745 [see gelt n.2]. |
| 1888 F. H. Woods tr. Montelius's Civilisation of Sweden i. 30 The graves of this period are commonly described as ‘dolmens’ (stendösar), ‘*passage-graves’ (gånggrifter), and ‘stone cists’ (hällkistor). 1919 [see boat-axe s.v. boat n. 3]. 1934 Discovery Mar. 66/2 Soon after 4,000 b.c. began the neolithic civilization marked by great stone tombs, first dolmens then passage-graves, and lastly long stone cists. 1943 J. & C. Hawkes Prehist. Brit. ii. 45 The men who introduced passage-grave architecture and art seem to have reached Ireland from Portugal and south-west Spain. 1958 F. E. Zeuner Dating Past (ed. 4) 81 This leaves only something like 200 years for that part of the Neolithic in Denmark which is clearly anterior to the arrival of the Bronze Age Beaker folk in Britain, namely all that preceding the middle of the Passage Grave period. 1963 E. S. Wood Collins Field Guide Archaeol. i. iv. 57 Passage Graves have a chamber, round, square or with side chambers, connected by a narrow passage to the outside of the usually round mound or cairn which covers it. 1970 Canad. Antiques Collector Nov. 19/1 The shape of Knowth differs from other known passage graves in Ireland. |
| 1828 J. S. Sebright Observ. Hawking 30 The falconers are obliged to keep the *passage-hawks somewhat low, from the fear of losing them. 1852 R. F. Burton Falconry in Valley of Indus iv. 42 The birds when taken up are as wild as passage-hawks. |
| 1727 Swift Further Acc. E. Curll Wks. 1755 III. i. 161 And thence be drawn..bit by bit, to the *passage-house. |
| 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4141/4 Employed in the *Passage-Hoys between London and the Nore. |
| 1934 Ingram & Salmon Birds in Brit. To-day xiii. 115 Records of small parties [of Scandinavian lesser black-backed gulls]..occurring as *passage-migrants, especially in spring, should be considered extremely doubtful. 1940 H. F. Witherby et al. Handbk. Brit. Birds III. 12 Distribution [of peregrine falcon].—British Isles.—Resident and passage-migrant. 1964 Oxf. Bk. Birds 74/1 Ruffs and reeves used to breed in Britain, but now they are mainly passage migrants..; a few spend the winter and summer. 1976 N. Roberts Face of France iv. 47 In the past they [sc. the French] did indeed accept Black immigrants, and particularly passage migrants, happily enough. 1977 Times 18 Aug. 14/6 Formby Point is a haunt of passage-migrants. |
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. ii. 6 But he him makes his *passage-penny pay. |
| 1665–6 Pepys Diary 25 Feb., I and my wife in a *passage-room to bed, and slept not very well because of noise. 1838 Gentl. Mag. IX. 255/2 A passage-room and staircase. |
| 1734 Berkeley Let. to Prior 30 Apr., Wks. 1871 IV. 227 You can tell what *passage-ships are on this side of the water. |
| 1792 Sir B. Thompson in Phil. Trans. LXXXII. 51 As this instrument is calculated merely for measuring the passage of heat in the substance whose conducting power is examined, I shall give it the name of *passage-thermometer. |
| 1873 M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma (1876) 352 There will be a *passage-time of confusion first. |
| 1774 J. Adams Diary 29 Aug., Here we saw two or three *passage wagons, a vehicle with four wheels, contrived to carry many passengers and much baggage. |
| 1865 Athenæum No. 1968. 89/2 The *passage-work in Astrofiammante's two airs. 1920 Musical Times LXI. 159 The Fantasia is mere passage-work of the most desolating description. 1931 G. Jacob Orchestral Technique iii. 25 Of course arpeggios and passage-work generally can freely pass through this part of the compass. 1959 Times 13 Nov. 15/4 Some of his faster passage-work (notably in Beethoven's semi-quavers) tended to sound scratchy. 1966 Listener 10 Feb. 219/1 The passage work sounded anything but assured and intonation was distinctly impure. 1972 Daily Tel. 11 Jan. 9/4 The choral singing..was sonorously centred and admirably articulated in quickfire passage-work. 1977 Gramophone Sept. 423/1 All three of these concertos are well constructed and melodious, sometimes with brilliant passage-work for the soloist. |
▪ II. passage, v.1 Horsemanship.
(
ˈpæsɪdʒ)
Most
freq. in
vbl. n. passaging.
[a. F. passager, altered by pop. etymol. from passéger, ad. It. passeggiare to walk, pace (cf. passeggio walk), deriv. of L. passus: see pass, pace.] a. intr. To move sideways in riding, by pressure of the rein on the horse's neck and of the rider's leg on the opposite side: said of the horse, or of the rider.
b. trans. To cause a horse to ‘passage’.
| 1796 Cavalry Instr. (1813) 220 These doublings of ranks are performed by reining back, and passaging. 1832 Regul. Instr. Cavalry ii. 18 The..men passaging right, or left, as may be necessary. 1833 Ibid. i. 81 The motion of the horse's legs in ‘Passaging’ is the same as that in ‘Shoulder-in’, but the head is turned differently. 1891 Blackw. Mag. May 647 He [the pony] should be able even to ‘passage’ at a canter. |
| transf. 1893 Stevenson Catriona 263 The ship..plunging and passaging upon the anchor cable. |
▪ III. ˈpassage, v.2 [f. passage n.: cf. voyage.] 1. intr. To make a passage, as in a ship or boat; to move across, pass, cross.
| 1824 Galt Rothelan I. i. xv. 141 Few pastimes are more soothing to a wounded spirit than easy passagings, at that delicious season, on the bosom of the generous river Thames. 1826 Blackw. Mag. XX. 21 Low stifled growling, and rapid passaging to and fro against the bars of the dens. 1833–40 J. H. Newman Ch. of Fathers (1842) 79, I earnestly desired to find some brother..who might passage with me over the brief wave of this life. 1834 M. Edgeworth Helen xvii. (Rtldg.) 161 Beauclerc passaged to Lady Davenant. |
2. To carry on a passage of arms;
fig. to fence with words, etc. (
cf. passage n. 13 c).
| 1798 Coleridge Nightingale 59 They answer and provoke each other's song, With skirmish and capricious passagings. 1862 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xii. ix. (1872) IV. 188 There was diplomatic passaging in these weeks. 1895 Crockett Men Moss Hags 45 It was a curious sight to see them passaging with little airs and graces, like fighting cocks matched in a pit. |
3. Med. and
Biol. To subject a strain of (micro-organisms or cells) to a passage (sense 10 b). In
Med. usu. with
pronunc. (
pæˈsɑːʒ).
| 1927 Brit. Jrnl. Dermatol. XXXIX. 7 Although the herpetic strain has been submitted to intracerebral passages for 4 years, it is still far from being as virulent or ‘neurotropic’ as the lethargica strain which has been passaged for 18 months only. 1952 Jrnl. Exper. Med. XCV. 260 All [influenza strains] were prepared from allantoic fluid passaged in 10 to 11 day old embryos. 1973 R. G. Krueger et al. Introd. Microbiol. xix. 514/1 The higher the donor species lies on the evolutionary scale, the more times one can passage that species' tissue in vitro. 1973 Nature 18 May 163/2 Non-infected, non-transformed hamster cells passaged in vitro fifteen times failed to develop tumours in 1-day-old hamsters. |