Passes

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /ˈpɑːsɪz/

Definitions

1. Multiple acts of moving from one place or state to another or gestures made in sequence ; the action of moving past or through something, performed by he, she, or it
2. Several instances of physical or metaphorical transitions or motions ; the process by which something goes beyond a point or is approved in official capacity, described as it occurs
3. Various movements or attempts to progress or transfer, often in sequence ; the act of succeeding in moving something onward, as carried out by a third party subject

Etymology: The word "passes" is simply the third-person singular present of the verb "pass" (it also serves as the plural of the noun), so its history is that of "pass" itself. The verb is a sharp example of a word that replaced its own native ancestor: Old English had a verb "genġan" meaning to go past, and it was displaced once "pass" arrived from Old French "passer", meaning "to step, walk, pass." Middle English borrowed that French verb, which had itself developed from Vulgar Latin "passāre", "step, walk, pass." The Latin root is "passus", meaning "a step" or a pace, a unit of measure that Roman soldiers and surveyors used. That literal sense of stepping is still visible: to pass something is originally to step beyond it. The same Proto-Indo-European root, "*peth₂-", meaning "to spread, stretch out," also gave English "fathom", which in Old English meant an outstretched armful, a rather neat connection between a measure of length and a measure of reach.

Synonyms: transports, permits, licenses, authorizations, approvals