transit

The act of passing over, across, or through something.

Noun

  1. The act of passing over, across, or through something.
    • In France you are now […] in the transit from one form of government to another. - 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to...
    • In the hollow by the park wall it appeared again, distinctly; and here it was plain the transit of the wall had been made, for the traces of the mud were evident enough upon its surface, and the mortar at top was...
    • Incoherency had overtaken his speech, but he was unaware of it. Nor did he connect the smashing of a bottle with the generous curve of his transit. - 1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall...
  2. The conveyance of people or goods from one place to another, especially on a public transportation system; the vehicles used for such conveyance.
    • the transit of goods through a country

    Synonyms: transport

  3. Any form of transport that can be used by a member of public (who usually pays a fare), as opposed to private ownership of e.g. cars; short form of public transit or mass transit
    • I always take transit to work.

    Synonyms: public transport

  4. The passage of a celestial body or other object across the observer's meridian, or across the disk of a larger celestial body.
  5. The passage of a celestial body in the horoscope, e.g. through a section or in relation to a specific important point in someone's birth chart.
  6. A surveying instrument rather like a theodolite that measures horizontal and vertical angles.
  7. An imaginary line between two objects whose positions are known. When the navigator sees one object directly in front of the other, the navigator knows that his position is on the transit.
  8. A Ford Transit van, see Transit.
    • Beufort road, Birkenhead, about 17.15 June 19 2013, white transit overtakes and swerves left into junction almost taking my front wheel.

Origin

From French, from Latin transire (“to go across, pass in, pass through”), from trans (“over”) + ire (“to go”).

Forms

transits

Derived

antitransit bowel transit time bus rapid transit colonic transit time fabrication-in-transit interval transit time in transit light rail transit microtransit milling-in-transit nontransit paratransit protransit rapid transit transit bus transit instrument transit lane transit lounge transitology transit telescope transit tetany transitway

Verb

  1. To pass over, across or through something.
  2. To convey people or goods from one place to another, especially by public transport vehicles.
  3. To use public transit.
    • I always transit to work.
  4. To revolve an instrument about its horizontal axis so as to reverse its direction.
  5. To make a transit.
  6. To carry communications traffic to and from a customer or another network on a compensation basis as opposed to peerage in which the traffic to and from another network is carried on an equivalency basis or without charge.

Forms

transits transiting transited

Related

transience transiency transient transition transitional transitionary transitionist transitive transitively transitory