Passage \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.
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What! are my doors opposed against my passage!
--Shak.
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2. Transit by means of conveyance; journey, as by water,
carriage, car, or the like; travel; right, liberty, or
means, of passing; conveyance.
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The ship in which he had taken passage. --Macaulay.
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3. Price paid for the liberty to pass; fare; as, to pay one's
passage.
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4. Removal from life; decease; departure; death. [R.] "Endure
thy mortal passage." --Milton.
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When he is fit and season'd for his passage. --Shak.
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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.
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And with his pointed dart
Explores the nearest passage to his heart. --Dryden.
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The Persian army had advanced into the . . .
passages of Cilicia. --South.
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6. A continuous course, process, or progress; a connected or
continuous series; as, the passage of time.
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The conduct and passage of affairs. --Sir J.
Davies.
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The passage and whole carriage of this action.
--Shak.
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7. A separate part of a course, process, or series; an
occurrence; an incident; an act or deed. "In thy passages
of life." --Shak.
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The . . . almost incredible passage of their
unbelief. --South.
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8. A particular portion constituting a part of something
continuous; esp., a portion of a book, speech, or musical
composition; a paragraph; a clause.
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How commentators each dark passage shun. --Young.
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9. Reception; currency. [Obs.] --Sir K. Digby.
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10. A pass or en encounter; as, a passage at arms.
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No passages of love
Betwixt us twain henceforward evermore. --Tennyson.
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11. A movement or an evacuation of the bowels.
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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.
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The final question was then put upon its
passage. --Cushing.
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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.
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Syn: Vestibule; hall; corridor. See Vestibule.
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Middle \Mid"dle\ (m[i^]d"d'l), a. [OE. middel, AS. middel; akin
to D. middel, OHG. muttil, G. mittel. [root]271. See Mid,
a.]
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1. Equally distant from the extreme either of a number of
things or of one thing; mean; medial; as, the middle house
in a row; a middle rank or station in life; flowers of
middle summer; men of middle age.
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2. Intermediate; intervening.
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Will, seeking good, finds many middle ends. --Sir J.
Davies.
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Note: Middle is sometimes used in the formation of
self-explaining compounds; as, middle-sized,
middle-witted.
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Middle Ages, the period of time intervening between the
decline of the Roman Empire and the revival of letters.
Hallam regards it as beginning with the sixth and ending
with the fifteenth century.
Middle class, in England, people who have an intermediate
position between the aristocracy and the artisan class. It
includes professional men, bankers, merchants, and small
landed proprietors
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The middle-class electorate of Great Britain. --M.
Arnold.
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Middle distance. (Paint.) See Middle-ground.
Middle English. See English, n., 2.
Middle Kingdom, China.
Middle oil (Chem.), that part of the distillate obtained
from coal tar which passes over between 170[deg] and
230[deg] Centigrade; -- distinguished from the light
oil, and the heavy oil or dead oil.
Middle passage, in the slave trade, that part of the
Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the West Indies.
Middle post. (Arch.) Same as King-post.
Middle States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and
Delaware; which, at the time of the formation of the
Union, occupied a middle position between the Eastern
States (or New England) and the Southern States. [U.S.]
Middle term (Logic), that term of a syllogism with which
the two extremes are separately compared, and by means of
which they are brought together in the conclusion.
--Brande.
Middle tint (Paint.), a subdued or neutral tint.
--Fairholt.
Middle voice. (Gram.) See under Voice.
Middle watch, the period from midnight to four a. m.; also,
the men on watch during that time. --Ham. Nav. Encyc.
Middle weight, a pugilist, boxer, or wrestler classed as of
medium weight, i. e., over 140 and not over 160 lbs., in
distinction from those classed as light weights, heavy
weights, etc.
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