passing 
ing; current: as, passing events; the 
hour. 
Again the feast, the speech, the glee, 
The shade of passing thought, the wealth 
Of words and wit. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Conclusion. 
2. Cursory; such as is done, given, etc., while 
one passes: as, a, passing glance. 
Some frail memorial still erected nigh. 
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked, 
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh. O-ray, Elegy. 
3. Fleeting; fading away. 
Trust not in man with passing breath. 
Whittier, Chapel of the Hermits. 
4. Exceeding; surpassing; transcendent; egre- 
gious; eminent; extraordinary. 
He is a man of hey discrecioun, 
I warne you wel, he is a passing man. 
Chaucer, ProL to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 61. 
For the pawunge Love that he hadde to hire, whan he 
saughe hire ded, he f elle in a rage, and oute of his Wytt, 
a gret while. llandemlle, Travels, p. 89. 
O passing traitor ; perjured and unjust ! 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., v. 1. 106. 
passing (pas'ing), adv. [< passing, a.] Sur- 
passingly; wonderfully: exceedingly; very. 
This Ewein was a passinge feire childe, and bolde and 
hardy ; but after that he hadde herde speke of kynge Ar- 
thur he wolde not suffre that noon made hym knyght. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), U. 238. 
Oberon is passiny fell and wrath. 
Shak., IS. N. D.,H. 1. 20. 
For she was passing weary of his love. 
U. Arnold, Tristram and Iseult. 
passing (pas'ing), prep. [< passing, .] Ex- 
ceeding; beyond; over. [Rare.] 
Why, I han't been at it passing a couple of months. Foote. 
passing-bell (pas'ing-bel), 11. A church bell 
tolled at the time of a person's death or imme- 
diately after. It was a means of summoning Christians 
to pray for the soul of the one just departed; and it is 
still common as a mark of respect to the dead and an an- 
nouncement to the public that a death has just occurred. 
The age of the person is commonly indicated by the 
number of strokes. This custom is supposed to have 
originated from the ancient belief that the sound of the 
church bell drove away any demon that might seek to take 
possession of the departing soul. In the Church of Eng- 
land it is enjoined by canon that the passing-bell be 
tolled during the dying and at the burial of any parish- 
ioner. Formerly called/orfA-/orc. 
All my spirits, 
As if they heard my posting-bell go for me, 
Pull in their powers, and give me up to destiny. 
Fletcher (and another), Sea Voyage, iii. 1. 
When the passing-bell doth tole, 
And the furies in a shole 
Come to fight a parting soule, 
Sweet Spirit, comfort me ! 
Herrick, Litanie to the Holy Spirit. 
passing-braid (pas'ing-brad), n. A kind of 
braid made of passing, twisted or braided, as 
in making galloon. 
passing-byt (pas'ing-bl'), . The passover. 
Christ's disciples said to the man, Where is this guest- 
chamber, where I might eat the passing-by with my dis- 
ciples? 
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc., 1850), p. 251. 
passing-discord (pas'ing-dis"k6rd), n. Same 
as passing-note. 
passinglyt (pas'ing-li), adv. [< ME. passyitgly ; 
(.passing + -fy 2 .] In a surpassing degree ; spe- 
cially; exceedingly. 
He schal dispise deeth. he schal drede no perelis, and 
passyngly he schal be maad hardy. 
Hook of Quinte Essence (ed. Furnivall), p. 23. 
Cris. Do you love singing, lady ? 
Chloe. O, passingly. B. Jonson, Poetaster, ii. 1. 
passing-measure (pas'ing-mezh"ur), n. [See 
passa-measure.] A corruption of passamczzo. 
Prythee sit still ; you must dance nothing but the pass- 
ing-meamres. A. Brewer (1), Lingua, iii. 7. 
passing-note (pas'ing-not), n. In music, an un- 
essential or discordant tone melodically com- 
bined with harmonically essential tones, either 
between them or next above or below them. 
Such accessory tones are usually unaccented. 
passing-place (pas'ing-plas), n. A railway sid- 
ing where trains may pass one another. 
passing-tone (pas'ing-ton), n. In music, same 
as passing-note. 
passio(n-), suffering, enduring (LL., specifi- 
cally, a suffering, a disease), also an event, oc- 
currence, < L. pati, pp. passus, suffer, endure, 
undergo: see patient.] 1. The state of being 
affected or acted on by something external; a 
passive as opposed to an active state. 
When the ball obeys the stroke of a billiard-stick, it Is 
not any action of the ball, but bare passion. 
Locke, Human Understanding, II. xxi. 4. 
4318 
2. Susceptibility of impression from external 
agents ; receptivity to impressions. 
The differences of mouldable and not monldable, . . . 
and many other passions of matter, are plebeian notions. 
Bacon 
3. Suffering; especially, the sufferings of Christ 
on the cross; more specifically, his sufferings 
subsequent to the Last Supper, sometimes dis- 
tinguished from those of the crucifixion: as, 
"by thy Cross and Passion," Boole of Com mini 
Prayer. 
Our sauyour Ihesu cryste was put vnto deth by passyon 
of the crosse. Joseph of Ariinathie (E. E. T. S.), p. 27. 
All the passion of all the martyrs that ever were. 
Latimer, Sermons, p. 232. 
To whom also he shewed himself alive alter his passion, 
by many infallible proofs. Acts i. 3. 
Wherefore suffered he so great and bitter passions' did 
he it not to take away your sins? 
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 123. 
The term Passion belongs more properly to that which 
Heunderwentduringtheflfteen ormore hours that elapsed 
between the night of the Last Supper and three o'clock on 
the following afternoon, beginning with His agony in the 
garden of Gethsemane and ending with His death upon 
the Cross. Blunt, Diet. Doct. and Hist. Theology, p. 547. 
4f. Physical disorder, or suffering resulting 
from it ; disease. 
He then sayd that he was called the sonne of Jupiter ; 
but yet he felt in himselfe the passions of a diseased body. 
J. Brende, tr. of Quintus Curtius, viii. 
If much you note him, 
You shall offend him and extend his passion. 
Feed, and regard him not. Shak., Macbeth, iii. 4. 57. 
5. Emotion; specifically, intense or vehement 
emotion, occupying the mind in great part for 
a considerable period, and commanding the 
most serious action of the intelligence; an 
abounding or controlling emotion, such as am- 
bition, avarice, revenge, desire, fear, hope, joy, 
grief, love, hatred, etc. ; a strong deep feeling. 
How all the other passions fleet to air, 
As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embraced despair, 
And shuddering fear, and green-eyed jealousy ! 
Shak., M. of V., iii. 2. 108. 
Held in holy passion still, 
Forget thyself to marble. 
Milton, II Penseroso, 1. 41. 
As if the civil wars had blotted out the expression of 
character and passion from the human lip and brow. 
Maamlay, Horace Walpole. 
She ended with such passion that the tear 
She sang of shook and fell an erring pearl. 
Tennyson, Princess, iv. 
(a) Zeal ; ardor ; vehement or ruling desire. 
Pan . . . has no passion, unless it be for discourse. 
Bacon, Fable of Pan. 
In those good days of simplicity and sunshine, a passion 
for cleanliness was the leading principle in domestic econ- 
omy. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 167. 
(6) Love ; ardent affection ; amorous desire. 
I should have been more strange, I must confess, 
But that thou overheard'st, ere I was ware, 
My true love's passion. Shak., R. and J. t ii. 2. 104. 
For health and idleness to passions flame 
Are oil and gunpowder. Byron, Don Juan, ii. 169. 
(ct) Grief ; sorrow. 
Victorious Titus, rue the tears I shed, 
A mother's tears in passion for her son. 
Shak., Tit. And., i. 1. 106. 
Oh, that I could as gently shake off passion 
For the loss of that great brave man as I can shake off 
Remembrance of what once I was reputed ! 
Fletcher (and another), Fair Maid of the Inn, iii. 
(d) Vehement anger; rage: sometimes used absolutely: 
as, in a passion. 
Monsieur le Nostre spoke much of the good Humour of 
his Master ; he affirmed to me he was never seen in Pas- 
sion. Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 87. 
I must be in a passion, Sir Lucius I must be in a 
rage. Sheridan, The Rivals, iii. 4. 
6. An object of great admiration or desire; 
something indulged in, pursued, or cultivated 
with extreme and serious ardor : as, poetry be- 
came a passion with him. 
He [General Hawley] is called Lord Chief Justice ; fre- 
quent and sudden executions are his passion. 
Walpole, Letters, II. 1. 
They know not, cannot guess 
How much their welfare is a passion to us. 
Tennyson, Princess, iii. 
7. A passionate display ; an exhibition of deep 
feeling. 
Sometimes he maketh invocations with broken sen- 
tences by starts and strange passions. 
Capt. John Smith, Works, I. 139. 
She was in such a passion of tears that they were obliged 
to send for Dr. Floss. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, i. 
8. Same as passion-music Cardiac passiont. See 
cardiac. Heac or iliac passion. Sameasitews, 1. Pas- 
sion Sunday, the second Sunday before Easter Sunday ; 
the fifth Sunday in Lent: so called because the special 
commemoration of Christ's passion then begins. Pas- 
passionate 
sion Week, the fifth week in Lent, from Passion Sunday 
to I'alm Sunday, and immediately preceding Holy Week. 
The name Passion Week was given to it from very early 
times because with it begins the special commemoration of 
Christ's passion. In non-Catholic circles Passion Week is 
often Incorrectly identified with Holy Week. = Syn. 5. Pas- 
sion, Affection; wrath, fury ; fervor ; rapture, transport. 
As compared with a/ection, the distinctive mark of pas- 
sion is that it masters the mind, so that the person be- 
comes seemingly its subject or its passive instrument, 
while an affection, though moving, affecting, or influencing 
one, still leaves him his self-control. The secondary mean- 
ings of the two words keep this difference, 
passion (pash'on), t\ [< OF.jiassioner.passion- 
ner = It. passionare, < ML. passionare, be af- 
fected with passion, < L. passio(n-), passion : 
see passion, .] I. intrans. To be affected with 
passion; be extremely agitated, especially with 
grief; sorrow. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
'Twas Ariadne passioning 
For Theseus' perjury and unjust flight. 
Shak., T. G. of V., iv. 4. 172. 
How now, Queen ! what art thou doing? passioning over 
the picture of Clean thes, I am sure ; for I know thou lovest 
him. Chapman, Blind Beggar of Alexandria. 
A sloping green of mossy tread, 
By a clear pool, wherein she passioned 
To see herself escaped from so sore ills. 
Keats, Lamia, i. 
II. trans. To give a passionate character to ; 
imbue with passion ; impassionate. [Rare.] 
By lively actions he gan bewray 
Some argument of matter passioned. 
Spenser, F. Q., III. xii. 4. 
O thou, for whose soul-soothing quiet turtles 
Passion their voices cooingly 'mong myrtles. 
Keats, Endymion, i. 
passional (pash'on-al), a. and n. [< OF. pas- 
sional, passionnel !' = It. passionale = Pg. pas- 
sional, n., < ML. passionalis, passionale, n., book 
containing sufferings of the martyrs, < LL.^as- 
sionalis, susceptible of passion or suffering, < 
L. passio(n-), suffering, passion: see passion.] 
1. a. Of or pertaining to passion or the pas- 
sions ; influenced by passion ; passionate. 
It [phrenology] divides, for example, all our powers into 
mental, moral, and passional intellect, morals, and af- 
fections. J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, p. 101. 
Nowhere in literature is the process of culture by means 
of study and passional experience so graphically depicted. 
Stedman, Viet. Poets, p. 142. 
II. n. 1. Same as passionary. 
The Legenda contained the lections read at matins and 
at other times, and may be taken as a generic term to in- 
clude the Uomiliariuni, Martyrology, Passional, and other 
volumes. Encyc. Brit.., XIV. 710. 
2. A manuscript of the four Gospels, upon which 
the kings of England, from Henry I. to Edward 
VI., took the coronation oath. 0. Shipley. 
passionary (pash'on-a-ri), .; pi. passionaries 
(-riz). [= F. passion'aire = Sp. pasionario = 
Pg. It. passionario, < ML. passionarins, passio- 
narium,& passional, <LL./jos*io(m-), suffering, 
passion : see passion.] A book containing de- 
scriptions of the sufferings of the saints and 
martyrs, read in the ancient Christian Church 
on their respective festivals. 
Higden's "Polychronicon." and the passionaries of the 
female saint Werburgh, Etheldred, and Sexburgh, which 
were kept for public edification in the choir. 
Warton, Eng. Poetry, HI. 142. 
passionatet (pash'on-at), v. t. [< ML. passio- 
iiatus, pp. of passionare, be affected with pas- 
sion: see passion, v., and cf. passionate, a.~\ 1. 
To affect with passion; move to anger, hate, 
love, etc. 
Neither did I thinke any so malitious as now I see a 
great many : yet it shal not so passionate me but I will doe 
my best for my most maligner. 
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 229. 
2. To portray with natural emotion or pas- 
sion; personate. 
There have they their play-house, where the parts of 
women are acted by women, and too naturally passion- 
ated. Sandys, Travailes, p. 192. 
Great pleasure, mixt with pittiful regard, 
That godly King and Queene did passionate, 
Whyles they his pittifull adventures heard. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. xii. 16. 
Thy niece and I, poor creatures, want our hands, 
And cannot passionate our tenfold grief. 
Shak., Tit. And., iii. 2. 6. 
passionate (pash'on-at), a. [= F. passionne 
= It. passionato, < ML. passionatus, passionate, 
impassioned: see the verb.] Characterized by 
passion; exhibiting or expressing passion, (a) 
Easily moved to vehement emotion, especially to anger ; 
easily excited or agitated ; also, exhibiting or feeling ve- 
hement emotion. 
Their scornfull vsage made the Captaine so passionate, 
to appease his anger and choler their intent made many 
faire excuses for satisfaction. 
Capt. John Smith, Works. II. 283. 
