- To pass off
- Pass Pass, v. t.
1. In simple, transitive senses; as:
(a) To go by, beyond, over, through, or the like; to
proceed from one side to the other of; as, to pass a
house, a stream, a boundary, etc.
(b) Hence: To go from one limit to the other of; to spend;
to live through; to have experience of; to undergo; to
suffer. ``To pass commodiously this life.'' --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
She loved me for the dangers I had passed. --Shak. [1913 Webster] (c) To go by without noticing; to omit attention to; to take no note of; to disregard. [1913 Webster]
Please you that I may pass This doing. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
I pass their warlike pomp, their proud array. --Dryden. [1913 Webster] (d) To transcend; to surpass; to excel; to exceed. [1913 Webster]
And strive to pass . . . Their native music by her skillful art. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
Whose tender power Passes the strength of storms in their most desolate hour. --Byron. [1913 Webster] (e) To go successfully through, as an examination, trail, test, etc.; to obtain the formal sanction of, as a legislative body; as, he passed his examination; the bill passed the senate. [1913 Webster]
2. In causative senses: as: (a) To cause to move or go; to send; to transfer from one person, place, or condition to another; to transmit; to deliver; to hand; to make over; as, the waiter passed bisquit and cheese; the torch was passed from hand to hand. [1913 Webster]
I had only time to pass my eye over the medals. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
Waller passed over five thousand horse and foot by Newbridge. --Clarendon. [1913 Webster] (b) To cause to pass the lips; to utter; to pronounce; hence, to promise; to pledge; as, to pass sentence. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
Father, thy word is passed. --Milton. [1913 Webster] (c) To cause to advance by stages of progress; to carry on with success through an ordeal, examination, or action; specifically, to give legal or official sanction to; to ratify; to enact; to approve as valid and just; as, he passed the bill through the committee; the senate passed the law. (e) To put in circulation; to give currency to; as, to pass counterfeit money. ``Pass the happy news.'' --Tennyson. (f) To cause to obtain entrance, admission, or conveyance; as, to pass a person into a theater, or over a railroad. [1913 Webster]
3. To emit from the bowels; to evacuate. [1913 Webster]
4. (Naut.) To take a turn with (a line, gasket, etc.), as around a sail in furling, and make secure. [1913 Webster]
5. (Fencing) To make, as a thrust, punto, etc. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
{Passed midshipman}. See under Midshipman.
{To pass a dividend}, to omit the declaration and payment of a dividend at the time when due.
{To pass away}, to spend; to waste. ``Lest she pass away the flower of her age.'' --Ecclus. xlii. 9.
{To pass by}. (a) To disregard; to neglect. (b) To excuse; to spare; to overlook.
{To pass off}, to impose fraudulently; to palm off. ``Passed himself off as a bishop.'' --Macaulay.
{To pass (something) on (some one)} or {To pass (something) upon (some one)}, to put upon as a trick or cheat; to palm off. ``She passed the child on her husband for a boy.'' --Dryden.
{To pass over}, to overlook; not to note or resent; as, to pass over an affront. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.