<adj.all> the ephemeral joys of childhood a passing fancy youth's transient beauty love is transitory but it is eternal fugacious blossoms
allowing you to pass (e.g., an examination or inspection) satisfactorily
<adj.all> a passing grade
hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough
<adj.all> a casual (or cursory) inspection failed to reveal the house's structural flaws a passing glance perfunctory courtesy
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) To decline to play in one's turn; in euchre, to decline to make the trump.
She would not play, yet must not pass. --Prior.
{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 {To pass 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\, 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.
{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.
We need every subscription we can get," said Shine. "Some guy walked out of the building and thought we'd gone bankrupt." Shine couldn't speak long because customer service workers were passing around passes for free kisses.
Michael Andrews, D-Texas, and Robert Mrazek, D-N.Y., now moves to the House floor after passing the committee by a 27-11 vote.
The most famous State Department spy case involved Alger Hiss, convicted in 1950 of lying to Congress about passing secrets to Whittaker Chambers.
Strong thunderstorms passing through central Indiana caused street flooding in Crawfordsville.
We have to raise wages for the entry level, but we're not passing it through the organization.'"
It eagerly espoused individual rights and the need to 'de-ideologise Soviet society', (then passing through the last,terminal crisis of communism) - and at the same time insisting that the Soviet Union remain an integral state.
"They have more than a passing interest in the Bush-Gorbachev talks," said Joel Karlin, an analyst with Research Department Inc., a brokers' advisory service in Chicago.
The U.S. Congress is close to passing a bill that would provide $300 million for Nicaragua.
The stock market depends on the banking system because every trade involves money passing from a seller's bank to a buyer's. Banks also provide lines of credit for investors.
Lawmakers want to avoid last year's spectacle of Congress passing a $600 billion bill to fund the entire government in the wee hours of a December morning.
A group of about 200 demonstrators continued throwing objects at police armed with riot shields as well as at passing civilian cars, Scotland Yard said.
Around Gilgit, they use Shina, which has a passing connection to Sanskrit.
Still, Mr. Barton of the Independent Bankers Association thinks Velda Sue "has a reasonably good chance" of passing this session.
The word Watergate was mentioned only once, and that was by Bush, in passing.
Overhead, a man yells from a passing car on the First Street bridge: "Get a job." "Right there is someone who doesn't understand the issues of the homeless," said Page, who knows the problems first hand.
That's because the thrift industry faces too much competition _ from within, and from banks and securities brokers _ to risk scaring away depositors by passing along a proposed increase in federal deposit insurance premiums.
"It was just a passing thing.
Closely held Rice Aircraft Inc. and its chief executive officer admitted to refinishing surplus airplane parts and then passing them off as factory-fresh.
Sen. Alfonse D'Amato says he was merely passing on his "concern" for the prosecutor's office when he approached U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani in 1984 and 1985 on behalf of people representing two organized crime figures.
London International Group surprised the market yesterday by announcing interim losses, warning of 'very substantial' restructuring charges and passing the dividend. Its plans include the sale of large parts of the business and a capital reconstruction.
It could be of more than passing interest.
The tape also includes an exchange between an air traffic controller and a military pilot who said he saw Root move in the cockpit after passing out but then apparently lapse back into unconsciousness.
Particularly inspired, the Jackson schedulers believe, is a boat trip tomorrow down the Monongahela River, passing mile after mile of abandoned steel mills.
A competing paper, Today, headlined its story: "Tour Turns Sour as Fergie Booed by 10,000." The incident drew only passing attention from the Canadian media and was described by witnesses as a few dozen boos.
The Sandinistas arrived at 3 p.m., passing about 75 Nicaraguan refugees who gathered outside the church offices chanting slogans and carrying anti-Sandinista banners.
The patrolman reported the sighting to a passing patrol car, which stopped to search the passengers.
Men with the AIDS virus have AIDS-free sperm, raising the possibility that infected males may be able to father children through artificial insemination without passing the disease to the fetus, researchers say.
So the Tutto died and not even the people its sales fed lament its passing.
Nothing is wasted, indeed a great deal is gained, by passing quickly and naturally from one scene to another.
Last week, 12 pounds of opium from Thailand were found in a Federal Express shipment passing through the airport, Kitchens said.