Definition: passing
Source: WordNet (r) 1.7
passing
adj 1: enduring a very short time; "the ephemeral joys of
childhood"; "a passing fancy"; "youth's transient
beauty"; "love is transitory but at is eternal";
"fugacious blossoms" [syn: ephemeral, short-lived,
transient, transitory, fugacious]
2: moving by or going past; "the passing cars" [syn: passing]
3: (football) of advancing the ball by throwing it; "a team
with a good passing attack"; "a pass play" [syn: passing,
pass] [ant: running]
4: allowing you to pass (e.g., an examination or inspection)
satisfactorily; "a passing grade" [syn: passing]
5: hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough; "a
casual (or cursory) inspection failed to reveal the
house's structural flaws"; "a passing glance";
"perfunctory courtesy" [syn: casual, cursory, passing,
perfunctory]
n 1: a football play that involves one player throwing the ball
to a teammate; "the coach sent in a passing play on
third and long" [syn: pass, passing play, passing
game]
2: euphemistic expressions for death; "thousands mourned his
passing" [syn: loss, departure, exit, expiration,
going, release]
3: the motion of one object relative to another; "stellar
passings can perturb the orbits of comets" [syn: passage]
4: the end of something; "the passing of winter"
5: a bodily process of passing from one place or stage to
another; "the passage of air from the lungs"; "the passing
of flatus" [syn: passage]
6: going by something that is moving in order to get in front
of it; "she drove but well but her reckless passing of
every car on the road frightened me" [syn: overtaking]
7: success in satisfying a test or requirement; "his future
depended on his passing that test"; "he got a pass in
introductory chemistry" [syn: pass, qualifying] [ant:
failing]
adv : to an extreme degree or extent; "his eyesight was
exceedingly defective" [syn: exceedingly, extremely]
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Pass \Pass\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Passed; p. pr. & vb. n. Passing.] [F. passer, LL. passare, fr. L. passus step, or from pandere, passum, to spread out, lay open. See Pace.] 1. To go; to move; to proceed; to be moved or transferred from one point to another; to make a transit; -- usually with a following adverb or adverbal phrase defining the kind or manner of motion; as, to pass on, by, out, in, etc.; to pass swiftly, directly, smoothly, etc.; to pass to the rear, under the yoke, over the bridge, across the field, beyond the border, etc. ``But now pass over [i. e., pass on].'' --Chaucer. On high behests his angels to and fro Passed frequent. --Milton. Sweet sounds rose slowly through their mouths, And from their bodies passed. --Coleridge. 2. To move or be transferred from one state or condition to another; to change possession, condition, or circumstances; to undergo transition; as, the business has passed into other hands. Others, dissatisfied with what they have, . . . pass from just to unjust. --Sir W. Temple. 3. To move beyond the range of the senses or of knowledge; to pass away; hence, to disappear; to vanish; to depart; specifically, to depart from life; to die. Disturb him not, let him pass paceably. --Shak. Beauty is a charm, but soon the charm will pass. --Dryden. The passing of the sweetest soul That ever looked with human eyes. --Tennyson. 4. To move or to come into being or under notice; to come and go in consciousness; hence, to take place; to occur; to happen; to come; to occur progressively or in succession; to be present transitorily. So death passed upon all men. --Rom. v. 12. Our own consciousness of what passes within our own mind. --I. Watts. 5. To go by or glide by, as time; to elapse; to be spent; as, their vacation passed pleasantly. Now the time is far passed. --Mark vi. 35 6. To go from one person to another; hence, to be given and taken freely; as, clipped coin will not pass; to obtain general acceptance; to be held or regarded; to circulate; to be current; -- followed by for before a word denoting value or estimation. ``Let him pass for a man.'' --Shak. False eloquence passeth only where true is not understood. --Felton. This will not pass for a fault in him. --Atterbury. 7. To advance through all the steps or stages necessary to validity or effectiveness; to be carried through a body that has power to sanction or reject; to receive legislative sanction; to be enacted; as, the resolution passed; the bill passed both houses of Congress. 8. To go through any inspection or test successfully; to be approved or accepted; as, he attempted the examination, but did not expect to pass. 9. To be suffered to go on; to be tolerated; hence, to continue; to live along. ``The play may pass.'' --Shak. 10. To go unheeded or neglected; to proceed without hindrance or opposition; as, we let this act pass. 11. To go beyond bounds; to surpass; to be in excess. [Obs.] ``This passes, Master Ford.'' --Shak. 12. To take heed; to care. [Obs.] As for these silken-coated slaves, I pass not. --Shak. 13. To go through the intestines. --Arbuthnot. 14. (Law) To be conveyed or transferred by will, deed, or other instrument of conveyance; as, an estate passes by a certain clause in a deed. --Mozley & W. 15. (Fencing) To make a lunge or pass; to thrust. 16. (Card Playing & other games) To decline to take an optional action when it is one's turn, as to decline to bid, or to bet, or to play a card; in euchre, to decline to make the trump. She would not play, yet must not pass. --Prior. 17. In football, hockey, etc., to make a pass; to transfer the ball, etc., to another player of one's own side. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] To bring to pass, To come to pass. See under Bring, and Come. To pass away, to disappear; to die; to vanish. ``The heavens shall pass away.'' --2 Pet. iii. 10. ``I thought to pass away before, but yet alive I am.'' --Tennyson. To pass by, to go near and beyond a certain person or place; as, he passed by as we stood there. To pass into, to change by a gradual transmission; to blend or unite with. To pass on, to proceed. To pass on or upon. (a) To happen to; to come upon; to affect. ``So death passed upon all men.'' --Rom. v. 12. ``Provided no indirect act pass upon our prayers to define them.'' --Jer. Taylor. (b) To determine concerning; to give judgment or sentence upon. ``We may not pass upon his life.'' --Shak. To pass off, to go away; to cease; to disappear; as, an agitation passes off. To pass over, to go from one side or end to the other; to cross, as a river, road, or bridge.
Passing \Pass"ing\, adv. Exceedingly; excessively; surpassingly; as, passing fair; passing strange. ``You apprehend passing shrewdly.'' --Shak.
Passing \Pass"ing\, n. The act of one who, or that which, passes; the act of going by or away. Passing bell, a tolling of a bell to announce that a soul is passing, or has passed, from its body (formerly done to invoke prayers for the dying); also, a tolling during the passing of a funeral procession to the grave, or during funeral ceremonies. --Sir W. Scott. --Longfellow.
Passing \Pass"ing\, a.
1. Relating to the act of passing or going; going by, beyond,
through, or away; departing.
2. Exceeding; surpassing, eminent. --Chaucer. ``Her passing
deformity.'' --Shak.
Passing note (Mus.), a character including a passing tone.
Passing tone (Mus.), a tone introduced between two other
tones, on an unaccented portion of a measure, for the sake
of smoother melody, but forming no essential part of the
harmony.
