Loading..

Loading...

American Dictionary of the English Language

Dictionary Search

Pass


P'ASS, verb intransitive [Eng. pat, and as a noun, a pass a defile, an ambling, pace; passen, to be fit, to suit; Latin patior, whence passion, to suffer, and peto, competo, in the sense of fit; Gr. to walk or step, to suffer; The word pass coincides with Latin passus, a step, and this is from pando, Latin passus, a step, and this is from pando, to extend; n being casual, the original word was pado.

1. To move, in almost any manner; to go; to proceed from one place to another. A man may pass on foot, on horseback or in a carriage; a bird and a meteor pass through the air; a ship passes on or through the water; light passes from the sun to the planets; it passes from the sun to the earth in about eight minutes.

2. To move from one state to another; to alter or change, or to be changed in condition; as, to pass from health to sickness; to pass from just to unjust.

3. To vanish; to disappear; to be lost. In this sense, we usually say, to pass away.

Beauty is a charm, but soon the charm will pass

4. To be spent; to go on or away progressively.

The time when the thing existed, is the idea of that space of duration which passed between some fixed period and the being of that thing.

5. To die; to depart from life. [Little Used.]

6. To be in any state; to undergo; with under; as, to pass under the rod.

7. To be enacted; to receive the sanction of a legislative house or body by a majority of votes.

Neither of these bills has yet passed the house of commons.

8. To be current; to gain reception or to be generally received. Bank bills pass as a substitute for coin.

False eloquence passeth only where true is not understood.

9. To be regarded; to be received in opinion or estimation.

This will not pass for a fault in him, till it is proved to be one in us.

10. To occur; to be present; to take place; as, to notice what passes in the mind.

11. To be done.

Provided no indirect act pass upon our prayers to defile them.

12. To determine; to give judgment or sentence.

Though well we may not pass upon his life.

13. To thrust; to make a push in fencing or fighting.

14. To omit; to suffer to go unheeded or neglected. We saw the act, but let it pass

15. To move through any duct or opening; as, substances in the stomach that will not pass not be converted into ailment.

16. To percolate; to be secreted; as juices that pass from the glands into the mouth.

17. To be in a tolerable state.

A middling sort of man was left well enough by his father to pass but he could never think he had enough, so long as any had more.

18. To be transferred from one owner to another. The land article passed by livery and seizin.

19. To go beyond bounds. For this we generally use surpass.

20. To run or extend; as a line or other thing. The north limit of Massachusetts passes three miles north of the Merrimac.

To come to pass to happen; to arrive; to come; to be; to exist; a phrase much used in the Scriptures.

To pass away, to move from sight; to vanish.

1. To be spent; to be lost.

A good part of their lives passes away without thinking.

To pass by, to move near and beyond. He passed by as we stood in the road.

To pass on, to proceed.

To pass over, to go or move from side to side; to cross; as, to pass over to the other side.

To pass into, to unite and blend, as two substances or colors, in such a manner that it is impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins.

P'ASS, verb transitive To go beyond. The sun has passed the age of frivolousness.

1. To go through or over; as, to pass a river.

2. To spend; to live through; as, to pass time; to pass the night in revelry, and the day in sleep.

3. To cause to move; to send; as, to pass the bottle from one guest to another; to pass a pauper from one town to another; to pass a rope round a yard; to pass the blood from the right to the left ventricle of the heart.

4. To cause to move hastily.

I had only time to pass my eye over the medals, which are in great number.

5. To transfer from one owner to another; to sell or assign; as, to pass land from A to B by deed; to pass a note or bill.

6. To strain; to cause to percolate; as, to pass wine through a filter.

7. To utter; to pronounce; as, to pass compliments; to pass sentence or judgment; to pass censure on another's works.

8. To procure or cause to go.

Waller passed over five thousand horse and foot by Newbridge.

9. To put an end to.

This night

We'll pass the business privately and well.

10. To omit; to neglect either to do or to mention.

I pass their warlike pomp, their proud array.

11. To transcend; to transgress or go beyond; as, to pass the bounds of moderation.

12. To admit; to allow; to approve and receive as valid or just; as, to pass an account at the war-office.

13. To approve or sanction by a constitutional or legal majority of votes; as, the house of representatives passed the bill. Hence,

14. To enact; to carry through all the forms necessary to give validity; as, the legislature passed the bill into a law.

15. To impose fraudulently; as, she passed the child on her husband for a boy.

16. To practice artfully; to cause to succeed; as, to pass a trick on one.

17. To surpass; to excel; to exceed.

18. To thrust; to make a push in fencing.

To see thee fight, to see thee pass thy puncto.

To pass away, to spend; to waste; as, to pass away the flower of like in idleness.

To pass by, to pass near and beyond.

1. To overlook; to excuse; to forgive; not to censure or punish; as, to pass by a crime or fault.

2. To neglect; to disregard.

Certain passages of Scripture we cannot pass by without injury to truth.

To pass over, to move from side to side; to cross; as, to pass over a river or mountain.

1. To omit; to overlook or disregard. He passed over one charge without a reply.

P'ASS, noun A narrow passage, entrance or avenue; a narrow or difficult place of entrance and exit; as a pass between mountains.

1. A passage; a road.

2. Permission to pass to go or to come; a license to pass; a passport.

A gentleman had a pass to go beyond the seas.

A ship sailing under the flag and pass of an enemy.

3. An order for sending vagrants or impotent persons to their place of abode.

4. In fencing and fighting, a thrust; a push; attempt to stab or strike; as , to make a pass at an antagonist.

5. State; condition or extreme case; extremity.

To what a pass are our minds brought.

Matters have been brought to this pass--