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.
Hear it pronounced