Northwest \North`west"\, a.
1. Pertaining to, or in the direction of, the point between
the north and west; being in the northwest; toward the
northwest, or coming from the northwest; as, the northwest
coast.
[1913 Webster]
2. Coming from the northwest; as, a northwest wind.
[1913 Webster]
Northwest passage, a passage or communication by sea
between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans along the north
coast of America, long sought for by navigators.
[1913 Webster]
|
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.
[1913 Webster]
What! are my doors opposed against my passage!
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. Transit by means of conveyance; journey, as by water,
carriage, car, or the like; travel; right, liberty, or
means, of passing; conveyance.
[1913 Webster]
The ship in which he had taken passage. --Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
3. Price paid for the liberty to pass; fare; as, to pay one's
passage.
[1913 Webster]
4. Removal from life; decease; departure; death. [R.] "Endure
thy mortal passage." --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
When he is fit and season'd for his passage. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
And with his pointed dart
Explores the nearest passage to his heart. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
The Persian army had advanced into the . . .
passages of Cilicia. --South.
[1913 Webster]
6. A continuous course, process, or progress; a connected or
continuous series; as, the passage of time.
[1913 Webster]
The conduct and passage of affairs. --Sir J.
Davies.
[1913 Webster]
The passage and whole carriage of this action.
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
7. A separate part of a course, process, or series; an
occurrence; an incident; an act or deed. "In thy passages
of life." --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The . . . almost incredible passage of their
unbelief. --South.
[1913 Webster]
8. A particular portion constituting a part of something
continuous; esp., a portion of a book, speech, or musical
composition; a paragraph; a clause.
[1913 Webster]
How commentators each dark passage shun. --Young.
[1913 Webster]
9. Reception; currency. [Obs.] --Sir K. Digby.
[1913 Webster]
10. A pass or en encounter; as, a passage at arms.
[1913 Webster]
No passages of love
Betwixt us twain henceforward evermore. --Tennyson.
[1913 Webster]
11. A movement or an evacuation of the bowels.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
The final question was then put upon its
passage. --Cushing.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Vestibule; hall; corridor. See Vestibule.
[1913 Webster]
|