transfer
UK /tɹɑːnsˈfɜː/ · US /tɹænsˈfɚ/ verb, noun
Forms transfers transferring transferred transferrest transferredst transferreth xfer
- verb (transitive) To move or pass from one place, person or thing to another. “to transfer the laws of one country to another; to transfer suspicion”
- verb (transitive) To convey the impression of (something) from one surface to another. “to transfer drawings or engravings to a lithographic stone”
- verb (transport, of a traveler) To exit one mass transit vehicle and board another (typically one belonging to a different line or mode of transportation) to continue a journey. “transfer to the Blue Line”
- verb (intransitive) To be or become transferred.
- verb (transitive, law) To arrange for something to belong to or be officially controlled by somebody else. “The title to land is transferred by deed.”
- verb (transitive, linguistics) To 'carry' or apply anything (a concept, a name...) from one type of thing to a different type of thing. “The ancient Romans named the planet Mars by transferring that name from a deity of their pantheon to the planet appearing in the night sky.”
- verb (intransitive) To move from a wheelchair to another seating surface, or to a wheelchair from another seating surface.
- noun (uncountable) The act of conveying or removing something from one place, person or thing to another.
- noun (countable) An instance of conveying or removing from one place, person or thing to another; a transferal.
- noun (countable, transport) An act of exiting one mass transit vehicle and boarding another (typically one belonging to a different line or mode of transportation) to continue a journey. “Free transfers can be made between the Red and Orange Lines by walking from one of the station's platforms to another; in addition, riders using a fare card also get free transfers between bus and subway at the station.”
- noun (countable, transport) A paper receipt given to a rider of one bus (and historically also certain elevated or subway lines), allowing free entry onto another bus to continue a journey.
- noun (countable) A design conveyed by contact from one surface to another; a heat transfer.
- noun A soldier removed from one troop, or body of troops, and placed in another.
- noun (medicine) A pathological process by which a unilateral morbid condition on being abolished on one side of the body makes its appearance in the corresponding region upon the other side.
- noun (genetics) The conveying of genetic material from one cell to another.
Synonyms
carry over move onpass copy transpose abalienate alien alienate assign change hands consign convey grant transfer student transferal transference transportation transport transferral conveyance transferee transfer of training carry-over reassign transplant shift change transmit channel channelize
Etymology
From Latin trānsferō (“to bear across”). Distant doublet of translate. See also collate and confer, delate and defer, as well as prelate and prefer among others.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To convey from one place or person another; to transport, remove, or cause to pass, to another place or person; as, to transfer the laws of one country to another; to transfer suspicion.
- verb To make over the possession or control of; to pass; to convey, as a right, from one person to another; to give; as, the title to land is transferred by deed.
- noun The act of transferring, or the state of being transferred; the removal or conveyance of a thing from one place or person to another.
- noun The conveyance of right, title, or property, either real or personal, from one person to another, whether by sale, by gift, or otherwise.
Etymology [L. transferre; trans across, over + ferre to bear: cf. F. transférer. See Bear to carry.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “transfer”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details