different between passage vs postern

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French passage, from passer (“to pass”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pæs?d??/

Adjective

passage (not comparable)

1. Describing a bird that has left the nest, is living on its own, but is less than a year old. (commonly used in falconry)

   Passage red-tailed hawks are preferred by falconers because these younger birds have not yet developed the adult behaviors which would make them more difficult to train.

Noun

passage (plural passages)

1. A paragraph or section of text or music with particular meaning.

   passage of scripture

   She struggled to play the difficult passages.

2. Part of a path or journey.

   He made his passage through the trees carefully, mindful of the stickers.

3. An incident or episode.
   • 1961, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961: Hearings

     But there are those who do not feel that the sordid passages of life should be kept off the stage. It is a matter of opinion.

4. The official approval of a bill or act by a parliament. [from 17th c.]

   The company was one of the prime movers in lobbying for the passage of the act.

5. The advance of time.

   Synonym: passing
6. (art) The use of tight brushwork to link objects in separate spatial plains. Commonly seen in Cubist works.
7. A passageway or corridor.
8. (caving) An underground cavity, formed by water or falling rocks, which is much longer than it is wide.
9. (euphemistic) The vagina.
   • 1986, Bertrice Small, A Love for All Time,^[1] New American Library, ?ISBN, page 463:

     With a look of triumph that he was unable to keep from his dark eyes he slid into her passage with one smooth thrust, […]

   • 1987, Usha Sarup, Expert Lovemaking, Jaico Publishing House, ?ISBN, page 53:

     This way, the tip of your penis will travel up and down her passage.

   • 2009, Cat Lindler, Kiss of a Traitor, Medallion Press, ?ISBN, page 249:

     At the same moment, Aidan plunged two fingers deep into her passage and broke through her fragile barrier.

10. The act of passing; movement across or through.
    • 1886, Pacific medical journal Volume 29

      He claimed that he felt the passage of the knife through the ilio-cæcal valve, from the very considerable pain which it caused.

11. The right to pass from one place to another.
12. A fee paid for passing or for being conveyed between places.
13. Serial passage, a technique used in bacteriology and virology
14. (dice games, now historical) A gambling game for two players using three dice, in which the object is to throw a double over ten. [from 15th c.]

Derived terms

• passage maker, passagemaker
• Restronguet Passage
• rite of passage

Translations

Verb

passage (third-person singular simple present passages, present participle passaging, simple past and past participle passaged)

1. (medicine) To pass something, such as a pathogen or stem cell, through a host or medium

   He passaged the virus through a series of goats.

   After 24 hours, the culture was passaged to an agar plate.

2. (rare) To make a passage, especially by sea; to cross

   They passaged to America in 1902.

Etymology 2

From French passager, from Italian passeggiare

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?pas???/

Noun

passage (plural passages)

1. (dressage) A movement in classical dressage, in which the horse performs a very collected, energetic, and elevated trot that has a longer period of suspension between each foot fall than a working trot.

Translations

Verb

passage (third-person singular simple present passages, present participle passaging, simple past and past participle passaged)

1. (intransitive, dressage) To execute a passage movement

Further reading

• passage in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• passage in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• passage at OneLook Dictionary Search

Dutch

Etymology

From passeren +? -age

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: pas?sa?ge

Noun

passage f (plural passages, diminutive passagetje n)

1. A paragraph or section of text with particular meaning. ~ of scripture.
2. a passage way in a city.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?.sa?/, /pa.sa?/
• Homophones: passagent, passages
• Rhymes: -a?

Etymology 1

From Old French, from passer +? -age.

Noun

passage m (plural passages)

1. The act of going through a place or event.
2. The time when such an act occurs.
3. (uncountable) Circulation, traffic, movement.
4. (astronomy) Moment when a star or planet occults another,or crosses a meridian.
5. A short stay.
6. A trip or travel, especially by boat.
7. The act of going from a state to another.
8. Graduation from a school year.
9. The act of making something undergo a process.
10. the act of handing something to someone.
11. An access way.
12. A laid out way allowing to go across something.
13. An alley or alleyway off-limits to cars.
14. A paragraph or section of text or music.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Portuguese: passagem

Etymology 2

Verb form of passager.

Verb

passage

1. first-person singular present indicative of passager
2. third-person singular present indicative of passager
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of passager
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of passager
5. second-person singular imperative of passager

Further reading

• “passage” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Old French

Noun

passage m (oblique plural passages, nominative singular passages, nominative plural passage)

1. passage (part of a route or journey)

Descendants

• ? English: passage
• French: passage
  • ? Portuguese: passagem
• ? Swedish: passage

Swedish

Etymology

From Old French passage, from passer (“to pass”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa?s???/, /pa?s???/

Noun

passage c

1. access, transit

   Synonym: genomgång

Declension

References

• passage in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• passage in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

English

Etymology

From Old French posterne, alteration of posterle, from Late Latin posterula (“back door”), from Latin posterus (“later”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p?st(?)n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p?st?n/

Noun

postern (plural posterns)

1. A back gate, back door, side entrance, or other gateway distinct from the main entrance.
2. (archaic) By extension, a separate or hidden way in or out of a place, situation etc.
3. (historical, military) A subterranean passage communicating between the parade and the main ditch, or between the ditches and the interior of the outworks.
   • 1850, Dennis Hart Mahan, Summary of the Course of Permanent Fortification and of the Attack and Defence of Permanent Works

     The postern of the enceinte leads through the middle of the curtain, descending from the plane of sight to the ditch

Translations

Adjective

postern (comparative more postern, superlative most postern)

1. Situated at the rear; posterior.

Translations

Anagrams

• Preston, pronest, reptons

Swedish

Noun

postern

1. definite singular of poster

Anagrams

• portens, prosten, sporten, torpens