Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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.

            What! are my doors opposed against my passage!
                                                  --Shak.

   2. Transit by means of conveyance; journey, as by water,
      carriage, car, or the like; travel; right, liberty, or
      means, of passing; conveyance.

            The ship in which he had taken passage. --Macaulay.

   3. Price paid for the liberty to pass; fare; as, to pay one's
      passage.

   4. Removal from life; decease; departure; death. [R.]
      ``Endure thy mortal passage.'' --Milton.

            When he is fit and season'd for his passage. --Shak.

   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.

            And with his pointed dart Explores the nearest
            passage to his heart.                 --Dryden.

            The Persian army had advanced into the . . .
            passages of Cilicia.                  --South.

   6. A continuous course, process, or progress; a connected or
      continuous series; as, the passage of time.

            The conduct and passage of affairs.   --Sir J.
                                                  Davies.

            The passage and whole carriage of this action.
                                                  --Shak.

   7. A separate part of a course, process, or series; an
      occurrence; an incident; an act or deed. ``In thy passages
      of life.'' --Shak.

            The . . . almost incredible passage of their
            unbelief.                             --South.

   8. A particular portion constituting a part of something
      continuous; esp., a portion of a book, speech, or musical
      composition; a paragraph; a clause.

            How commentators each dark passage shun. --Young.

   9. Reception; currency. [Obs.] --Sir K. Digby.

   10. A pass or en encounter; as, a passage at arms.

             No passages of love Betwixt us twain henceforward
             evermore.                            --Tennyson.

   11. A movement or an evacuation of the bowels.

   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.

                 The final question was then put upon its
                 passage.                         --Cushing.

   {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.