pass

1 verb

1 GO PAST (I, T) to come up to a particular point or object and go past it: The crowd parted to let the truck pass. | They kept quiet until the soldiers had passed. | pass sb/sth: We passed each other on the staircase. | I pass the sports centre on the way to work.

2 MOVE/GO

a) (intransitive always + adv/prep) to move, go, or travel from one place to another, following a particular direction

(+ through/into/from etc): We saw her arrive, passing through the little gate into the garden. | A few seconds later, I heard his footsteps pass along the deck above my head. | Light bends as it passes from air to water. | be (just) passing through spoken (=be travelling through a place): We were just passing through and thought we'd call in and see you.

b) (transitive always + adv/prep) to move something or place something across, through, around etc something else: pass sth around/along/across etc: Pass the rope around the tree.

3 ROAD/RIVER ETC (intransitive always + adv/prep) if a road, river, railway line etc passes through a place, it goes through that place: The new road passes immediately behind the theatre.

4 TIME

a) (I) if time passes, it goes by: The days passed slowly. | Several years passed before she realized the truth. | with each day that passes/with every passing day: The situation seems to get worse with each day that passes. | not a day/hardly a day passes without: Hardly a day passes without me thinking about Ian.

b) (T) if you pass time or pass your life in a particular way, you spend it in that way: We passed the winter pleasantly enough. | pass the time (=when you are bored or waiting for something): We played cards to pass the time until morning.

5 EXAM/TEST (I, T)

a) to succeed in an examination or test: Do you think you'll pass? | I passed my driving test first time. | pass (sth) with flying colours (=get very high marks)

b) (T) to officially decide that someone has passed an examination or test: The examiners finally passed her.

6 LAW/PROPOSAL

a) (T) to officially accept a law or proposal, especially by voting: pass a law/motion/resolution etc: Parliament passed a series of important measures in 1994. | The motion was passed unanimously.

b) (I, T) if a law or proposal passes an official group, it is officially accepted by that group: The bill failed by 17 votes to pass the House of Representatives.

7 GIVE (T) to take something and put it in someone's hand, especially because they cannot reach it: Pass the salt, please. | pass sb sth: Can you pass me that bag that's on the floor by your feet? | pass sth to sb: I passed the note back to her.

—see also: pass around

8 SAY/COMMUNICATE

a) (intransitive always + adv/prep) if words, looks, or signs pass between two or more people, they exchange them with one another

(+ between/through etc): A glance of understanding passed between them. | The news passed quickly through the crowd outside the palace.

b) pass a remark/comment/opinion etc to say something or give your opinion: She sat and watched the game, passing the occasional witty comment.

9 let sth pass to deliberately not say anything or not react when someone says or does something that you do not like: Carla made some comment about my work but I decided to let it pass.

10 END (I) to gradually come to an end: The storm soon passed. | You may feel a little stiff, but it'll pass.

11 SPORT (I, T) to kick, throw, or hit a ball etc to a member of your own team: Maradona quickly passed to Jaires. | pass sth: Pass the baton, you idiot!

12 pass 600/pass the $5000 mark etc to go past a particular number or amount, as a total gradually increases or is added to: Contributions to the disaster fund have already passed the $2 million mark.

13 pass unnoticed to happen without anyone noticing or saying anything

14 pass the time of day (with sb) to talk to someone for a short time in order to be friendly

15 CHANGE CONTROL (I) formal to go from one person's control or ownership to someone else's

(+ to/into): On his death his lands passed to his son.

16 CHANGE (I) formal if a substance passes from one condition into another, it changes into another condition

(+ from/to): Ice passes from a solid to a liquid state.

17 FALSE MONEY (T) to use false money to pay for something: She tried to pass a counterfeit $100 bill.

18 PROBLEM (transitive always + adv/prep) to send a problem or question to another person or group so that they can deal with it: pass sth (across/back/on) to sb: They passed your enquiry over to us.

19 pass (a) sentence (on sb) to officially decide how a criminal will be punished, and to announce what the punishment will be

20 pass judgment (on sb) to give your opinion about someone's behaviour

21 GIVE NO ANSWER (I) to give no answer to a question because you do not know the answer: “Who won the Cup in 1966?” “Pass.”

22 pass urine/stools/blood etc formal or technical to send out something as waste material or in waste material from your bladder or bowels

23 pass water technical to send out urine (=liquid waste) from your body

24 pass understanding/comprehension/belief formal to be impossible to understand or believe

25 come to pass literary or biblical to happen

—see also: pass the buck buck 1 (2), pass muster muster 2 (1) pass as sb/sth phrasal verb (T) pass for pass 1 pass sth around phrasal verb (T)

1 to offer something to each person in a group: Pass the cookies around, would you?

2 to give something to one person in a group for them to give to the person next to them: He took a cigar and passed the box around.

—see also: pass the hat round hat (5) pass away phrasal verb (I) an expression meaning to die, used because you want to avoid upsetting someone by saying this directly pass by phrasal verb

1 (I, T) to move past or go past a person, place, vehicle etc: I'd lie on my back and look at the clouds passing by. | pass by sb/sth: Call in and see us if you're ever passing by the house.

—see also: passerby

2 (transitive pass someone by) if something passes you by, it is there but you do not get any profit or advantage from it: She felt that life was passing her by.

pass sth down phrasal verb (transitive often passive) to give or teach something, such as knowledge or traditions, to people who are younger than you or live after you: pass sth down (from sb) to sb: They pass their knowledge down from one generation to the next in stories and rhymes. pass for sb/sth phrasal verb (T) if someone or something passes for something, people think that they are that thing, although they are not really: With my hair cut short I could have passed for a boy. | what passes for: Davis then encountered the police, or what passed for the police in those peculiar conditions. pass off phrasal verb

1 (transitive pass someone/something off as something) to try to make people think that something or someone is something that it is not, especially something valuable: There is rarely any attempt to pass these copies off as originals.

2 pass off well/badly etc if an event passes off well, badly etc, it happens and is completed in that way: The presidential tour passed off without a hitch.

pass on phrasal verb

1 (transitive pass something on) to tell someone a piece of information that someone else has told you: pass sth on to sb: She said she'd pass the message on to the other students.

2 (transitive pass something on)

a) to give something, especially a disease, to your children through your genes

b) to give a slight illness to someone else: I stayed off work, as I didn't want to pass my cold on to anyone.

3 (transitive pass something on) to make someone else pay the cost of something: Any increase in wage costs is bound to be passed on to the consumer.

4 (I) pass away pass 1

pass out phrasal verb

1 (I) to faint: He always passes out at the sight of blood.

2 (transitive pass something out) to give something to each one of a group of people: Their teacher passed out the dictionaries.

3 (I) especially BrE to finish a course of study at a military school or police college

pass over phrasal verb (T)

1 (pass someone over usually passive) if you pass someone over for a job, you choose someone else who is younger or lower in the organization than them: be passed over for promotion (=someone else got the promotion)

2 (pass over something) if you pass over a remark or a subject in a conversation, you do not spend any time discussing it: I think we'd better pass over that last remark.

pass sth round phrasal verb (T) BrE to pass something around pass up phrasal verb pass up a chance/opportunity/offer to not make use of a chance to do something: Why did you pass up the opportunity to go to university? 2 noun (C)

1 an official piece of paper which shows that you are allowed to enter a building, travel on something without paying, etc: The guard checked our passes. | bus pass/train pass etc: She issued us with a one-day bus pass.

2 a successful result in an examination: a pass in: delighted with her pass in geography | pass mark (=the mark you need to succeed in an examination)

3 a single act of kicking, throwing, or hitting a ball etc to another member of your team: Holden intercepted a short pass by Maradona.

4 make a pass at informal to try to kiss or touch another person with the intention of starting a sexual relationship with them

5 a road or path which goes through a place that is difficult to cross: The road wound over a narrow mountain pass. | at the top of the pass into Italy

6 this pass/the first etc pass this, the first etc stage in a process, especially one which involves separating unwanted things out from a group: On the second pass we eliminated all the candidates with less than a year's experience.

7 a pretty/sorry/fine etc pass old-fashioned informal an unpleasant situation: come to a pretty pass: Things have come to a pretty pass if we can't even afford to get a newspaper!

8

a) a single movement of your hands or of a wand over something

b) a single movement of an aircraft over a place which it is attacking