▪ I. transmit, v.
(trɑːnsˈmɪt, træns-, -nz-)
[ad. L. transmittĕre, f. L. trans- + mittĕre to send.]
I. 1. a. trans. To cause (a thing) to pass, go, or be conveyed to another person, place, or thing; to send across an intervening space; to convey, transfer.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 4335 Nouthire to toly ne to taunde transmitte we na webbis, To vermylion ne violett ne variant littis. 1544 Coverdale Let. to C. Hubert Wks. (Parker Soc.) II. 509 Take care..that they be transmitted to me with the paper of Cephalæus. 1612 Davies Why Irel., etc. (1747) 24 From this time forward untill the 17 year of King John..there was no army transmitted out of England to finish the Conquest. 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 46 That Eusebian book of Evangelick preparation transmitting our ears through a hoard of heathenish obscenities, to receive the Gospel. 1701 Penn in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. IX. 77 Hasten in my rents and debts, and transmit them with all possible speed. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 376 The expense of transmitting heavy goods in this way was enormous. 1880 C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark iii. 273 They merely transmitted my letter to the Secretary of State, without any recommendation. |
b. intr. (for refl.) To pass to the heirs.
| 1913 H. Goudy in Ess. Legal Hist. of Congr. Hist. Stud. 208 Where..a delictal action was not strictly penal..it transmitted both actively and passively. Ibid. 218 In contracts the right of action almost invariably transmitted both to the heirs of the creditor and against the heirs of the debtor. |
2. fig. To convey or communicate (usually something immaterial) to another or others; to pass on, esp. by inheritance or heredity; to hand down.
| 1629 Burton Truth's Triumph 91 This word of faith..wee shall transmit and conuay it, euen vnto posterity. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iii. xlii. 267 His Apostles..transmitted the same Spirit by Imposition of hands. 1710 Prideaux Orig. Tithes v. 234 The House of Lords..had this power transmitted solely to them exclusive of the House of Commons. 1738 in Nairne Peerage Evid. (1874) 42 The said John Nairne..is likewise wholly disabled to take transmit or inherit any real or personal estate. 1828 Duppa Trav. Italy, etc. 84 A glowing diffusion of light, of which Claude's finest pictures transmit but a faint resemblance. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. xiii. 248 Samuel..had actually transmitted the office by hereditary succession to his sons. 1910 Morning Post 28 June 3/7 Capacity for milk-production, for early maturity [etc.]..are definitely fixed, and definitely transmitted from good sires. |
3. Physics and Mech. To cause (light, heat, sound, etc.) to pass through a medium; also, of a medium, to allow (light, etc.) to pass through; to conduct. Also, to convey (force or movement) from one part of a body, or of mechanism, to another. Also fig.
| 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 26 View her with a full light transmitted through a Burning-glass. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 156 ¶2 Like light transmitted from room to room. 1795 Ld. Auckland Corr. (1862) III. 313 Imagination transmits some rays of your comfort at Beckenham to my pensive thoughts. 1831 Lardner Pneumatics iv. 267 It is the nature of a fluid to transmit pressure equally in every direction. 1833 H. Martineau Charmed Sea iv. 54 How..the atmosphere, in its now approaching state, becomes incapable of transmitting sound to any distance. 1842 Parnell Chem. Anal. (1845) 29 Hydrosulphate of ammonia is prepared by transmitting sulphuretted hydrogen gas through solution of ammonia. 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib. II. xii. 2 The motion of the handle on deck is transmitted..by means of a series of shaftings and tooth-wheels. 1866 Roscoe Elem. Chem. (1871) 275 Gold..in thin films, transmits green light. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 171 The motion is transmitted from particle to particle, to a great distance. |
b. To send out electric signals or electromagnetic waves corresponding to (an image, a programme, etc.).
| 1877 [see facsimile 3]. 1923 Radio Times 28 Sept. 2/1 The first occasion..on which the voice of a public man had been transmitted simultaneously through six wireless stations hundreds of miles apart. 1946 B.B.C. Year Bk. 93 A fourth European programme network..allowed four different languages to be transmitted simultaneously. 1969 [see facsimile 3]. 1979 Financial Times 18 Sept. (Telecommunications Suppl.) p. vii/2 A related system, generically called teletext, uses the same basic format, but the information is transmitted on spare capacity of the normal television broadcast channels. |
II. 4. Radio. The infin. used, freq. attrib., in the sense ‘transmission’; so on transmit, of a transceiver: in the state of being able to transmit radio signals, with the transmitter switched on; transmit button, switch, the button or switch used to activate the transmitter; also ellipt.
| 1968 J. Sangster Touchfeather xiv. 146 The radio suddenly crackled into life... Marvin flipped the transmit switch. 1973 ‘A. Hall’ Tango Briefing xii. 155, I hit the transmit. Tango. She answered straight away. 1976 L. Henderson Major Enquiry xiv. 89 Keep your personal radio on transmit, don't try to talk but keep the channel open. 1976 K. Thackeray Crownbird vi. 122 He pressed the transmit button. ‘Listen carefully.’ 1980 Basildon Recorder 12 Sept. 1/4 Leaving his personal radio on ‘transmit’, so officers below could hear what was going on. |
Hence transˈmitted ppl. a.; transˈmitting vbl. n. and ppl. a.; transmitting station, a building or establishment from which radio or television signals are transmitted.
| 1681 R. Fleming Fulfilling Script. (1801) I. 430 Study the transmitting of truth and godliness. 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 271 By reflected light, blackish brown; but, by transmitted light, yellowish. 1800 Herschel in Phil. Trans. XC. 458, I tried the transmitting capacity of the glass, by exposing it with the rough side towards the sun, over one of the transmitting holes of the apparatus. 1869 Haddan Apost. Succ. iii. (1879) 56 The Church..has been held together compactly by the very fact of its transmitted orders. 1876 Preece & Sivewright Telegraphy 137 The battery which is connected to..the transmitting portion of the apparatus. 1923 Radio Times 28 Sept. 26/3 The 2LO transmitting station. 1977 Whitaker's Almanack 1978 759/1 There are two shortwave transmitting and receiving stations in Freetown. |
Add: [I.] [3.] c. absol.
| 1924 Harmsworth's Wireless Encycl. III. 1635/2 It is a common experience for ship sets of only one and a half kilowatts to transmit over a range of 1,000 miles. 1949 ‘G. Orwell’ Nineteen Eighty-Four i. i. 6 The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. 1960 How TV Works (Granada TV) v. 30 Headingley cannot transmit direct to Emley Moor because of the high ground near Morley. 1988 A. Lively Blue Fruit 109 You'll operate an auction to fill the information slots, then package and transmit using your VDU. |
▪ II. transmit, n. rare.
(ˈtrɑːnsmɪt, ˈtræns-, -nz-)
[f. prec. vb.; cf. permit n.]
An act of transmitting; an order of transmission. Also attrib., as transmit warrant, a warrant authorizing transmission.
| 1672 Bp. of Derry in Essex Papers (Camden) I. 26 That yo{supr} Excellcy may not judge me heedles of that transmit to y⊇ King before my leaving Dublin. 1741 W. Wilson Contn. Def. Reform. Princ. Ch. Scot. (1769) 407 Their petition could not get the common right of a transmit to the assembly. 1908 Daily Chron. 11 May 1/5 The Court signed a transmit warrant for the conveyance of Mrs. Cleary to Claremorris, and she left with the police escort yesterday. |