Pas"sage (?), n. [F. passage. See
Pass, v. i.] 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. 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. Price paid for the liberty to pass; fare;
as, to pay one's passage.
4. Removal from life; decease; departure;
death. [R.] "Endure thy mortal passage."
Milton.
When he is fit and season'd for his
passage.
Shak.
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. 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. A separate part of a course, process, or
series; an occurrence; an incident; an act or deed. "In thy
passages of life." Shak.
The . . . almost incredible passage of their
unbelief.
South.
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. Reception; currency. [Obs.] Sir
K. Digby.
10. A pass or en encounter; as, a
passage at arms.
No passages of love
Betwixt us twain henceforward evermore.
Tennyson.
11. A movement or an evacuation of the
bowels.
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 passage of the Stamp Act."
D. Hosack.
The final question was then put upon its
passage.
Cushing.
In passage, in passing; cursorily.
"These . . . have been studied but in passage." Bacon. -
- Middle passage, Northeast
passage, Northwest passage. See under
Middle, Northeast, etc. -- Of
passage, passing from one place, region, or climate, to
another; migratory; -- said especially of birds. "Birds of
passage." Longfellow. -- 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.
