transit
/ˈtɹæn.zɪt/ noun, verb
Forms transits transiting transited
- noun The act of passing over, across, or through something.
- noun 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”
- noun (Canada, US) 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.”
- noun (astronomy) The passage of a celestial body or other object across the observer's meridian, or across the disk of a larger celestial body.
- noun (astrology) 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.
- noun A surveying instrument rather like a theodolite that measures horizontal and vertical angles.
- noun (navigation) 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.
- noun (UK, Ireland) 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.”
- verb To pass over, across or through something.
- verb To convey people or goods from one place to another, especially by public transport vehicles.
- verb (at least Vancouver) To use public transit. “I always transit to work.”
- verb To revolve an instrument about its horizontal axis so as to reverse its direction.
- verb (astronomy, intransitive) To make a transit.
- verb (Internet) 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.
- noun (UK) A Ford Transit van.
Synonyms
transport public transport theodolite transportation system transportation passage pass through move through pass across pass over
Etymology
From French, from Latin transire (“to go across, pass in, pass through”), from trans (“over”) + ire (“to go”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The act of passing; passage through or over.
- noun The act or process of causing to pass; conveyance; as, the transit of goods through a country.
- verb To pass over the disk of (a heavenly body).
Etymology [L. transitus, from transire to go over: cf. F. transit. See Transient.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “transit”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details