 |
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Transit \Trans"it\, noun [L. transitus, from transire to go over: cf. F. transit. See {Transient}.]
1. The act of passing; passage through or over.
In France you are now . . . in the transit from one form of government to another. --Burke.
2. The act or process of causing to pass; conveyance; as, the transit of goods through a country.
3. A line or route of passage or conveyance; as, the Nicaragua transit. --E. G. Squier.
4. (Astron.) (a) The passage of a heavenly body over the meridian of a place, or through the field of a telescope. (b) The passage of a smaller body across the disk of a larger, as of Venus across the sun's disk, or of a satellite or its shadow across the disk of its primary.
5. An instrument resembling a theodolite, used by surveyors and engineers; -- called also {transit compass}, and {surveyor's transit}.
Note: The surveyor's transit differs from the theodolite in having the horizontal axis attached directly to the telescope which is not mounted in Y's and can be turned completely over about the axis.
{Lower transit} (Astron.), the passage of a heavenly body across that part of the meridian which is below the polar axis.
{Surveyor's transit}. See {Transit}, 5, above.
{Transit circle} (Astron.), a transit instrument with a graduated circle attached, used for observing the time of transit and the declination at one observation. See {Circle}, noun, 3.
{Transit compass}. See {Transit}, 5, above.
{Transit duty}, a duty paid on goods that pass through a country.
{Transit instrument}. (Astron.) (a) A telescope mounted at right angles to a horizontal axis, on which it revolves with its line of collimation in the plane of the meridian, -- used in connection with a clock for observing the time of transit of a heavenly body over the meridian of a place. (b) (Surv.) A surveyor's transit. See {Transit}, 5, above.
{Transit trade} (Com.), the business conected with the passage of goods through a country to their destination.
{Upper transit} (Astron.), the passage of a heavenly body across that part of the meridian which is above the polar axis.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Transit \Trans"it\, verb (used with an object) (Astron.) To pass over the disk of (a heavenly body).
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Eclipse \E*clipse"\ ([-e]*kl[i^]ps"), noun [F. ['e]clipse, L. eclipsis, fr. Gr. 'e'kleipsis, prop., a forsaking, failing, fr. 'eklei'pein to leave out, forsake; 'ek out + lei'pein to leave. See {Ex-}, and {Loan}.]
1. (Astron.) An interception or obscuration of the light of the sun, moon, or other luminous body, by the intervention of some other body, either between it and the eye, or between the luminous body and that illuminated by it. A lunar eclipse is caused by the moon passing through the earth's shadow; a solar eclipse, by the moon coming between the sun and the observer. A satellite is eclipsed by entering the shadow of its primary. The obscuration of a planet or star by the moon or a planet, though of the nature of an eclipse, is called an {occultation}. The eclipse of a small portion of the sun by Mercury or Venus is called a {transit} of the planet.
Note: In ancient times, eclipses were, and among unenlightened people they still are, superstitiously regarded as forerunners of evil fortune, a sentiment of which occasional use is made in literature.
That fatal and perfidious bark, Built in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark. --Milton.
2. The loss, usually temporary or partial, of light, brilliancy, luster, honor, consciousness, etc.; obscuration; gloom; darkness.
All the posterity of our fist parents suffered a perpetual eclipse of spiritual life. --Sir W. Raleigh.
As in the soft and sweet eclipse, When soul meets soul on lovers' lips. --Shelley.
{Annular eclipse}. (Astron.) See under {Annular}.
{Cycle of eclipses}. See under {Cycle}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
transit
noun
1: a surveying instrument for measuring horizontal and vertical angles, consisting of a small telescope mounted on a tripod [syn: {theodolite}]
2: a facility consisting of the means and equipment necessary for the movement of passengers or goods [syn: {transportation system}, {transportation}]
3: a journey usually by ship; "the outward passage took 10 days" [syn: {passage}]
verb
1: make a passage or journey from one place to another [syn: {pass through}, {pass across}, {pass over}]
2: pass across (a sign or house of the zodiac) or pass across (the disk of a celestial body or the meridian of a place); "The comet will transit on September 11"
3: revolve (the telescope of a surveying transit) about its horizontal transverse axis in order to reverse its direction
4: cause or enable to pass through; "The canal will transit hundreds of ships every day"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
141 Moby Thesaurus words for "transit": about-face, alchemy, alteration, assimilation, assumption, astrolabe, azimuth circle, azimuth compass, becoming, bevel, bevel protractor, bevel square, carriage, carrying, cartage, change, change-over, clinometer, communication, commutation, conduction, contagion, convection, conversion, conveyance, course, cover, cross, crossing, delivery, deportation, diapedesis, diffusion, dissemination, do, export, exportation, expulsion, extradition, flip-flop, globe-trotting, go over, going, goniometer, graphometer, growth, haulage, import, importation, interchange, journeying, lapse, locomotion, measure, metastasis, metathesis, metempsychosis, migration, motion, movement, moving, mutual transfer, naturalization, osmosis, overpass, pantometer, pass over, pass through, passage, passing, passing over, patrol, perambulate, peregrinate, pererrate, perfusion, ply, progress, progression, protractor, quadrant, radiogoniometer, range, range over, re-formation, reconnoiter, reconversion, reduction, resolution, reversal, scour, scour the country, scout, sextant, shift, spread, spreading, sweep, switch, switch-over, theodolite, tourism, touristry, track, traject, trajet, transduction, transfer, transfer of property, transference, transferral, transformation, transfusion, transit circle, transit instrument, transit theodolite, transition, translation, translocation, transmigration, transmigration of souls, transmission, transmittal, transmittance, transplacement, transplantation, transport, transportation, transporting, transposal, transposition, travel, travel over, travel through, traveling, traversal, traverse, traversing, turning into, volte-face, voyage
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
TRANSIT A subsystem of {ICES}. [Sammet 1969, p.616]. (2003-07-12)
 |
Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |