passing

verb

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present)present participle and gerund of pass

adj

1. That passes away; ephemeral.

   “And solace sought he none from priest nor leech, / And soon the same in movement and in speech / As heretofore he fill'd the passing hours […]”

   “[…]this is just a passing thing But I believe in your sweet loving, loving, babe With every summer falling rain”

   “It might be possible to dismiss #dittowatch as just another passing internet fancy. After all, hashtags are ephemeral.”

2. (archaic, literary)Pre-eminent, excellent, extreme.

   “her passing deformity”

   “It was by dint of passing strength, / That he moved the massy stone at length.”

   “That parliament was destined, in one short hour of convulsive strength, in one short hour of passing glory, to humble the pride and alarm the fears of England.”

3. Vague, cursory.

   “to make a passing comment”

   “to have a passing acquaintance with somebody or something”

   “Ardent pro-lifer Rick Santorum made one passing reference to "authenticity" as a litmus test for a conservative candidate, but if he was obliquely referring to Romney (and he was), you could be excused for missing the dig.”

4. Going past.

   “passing cars”

5. That passes in any sense.

   “a passing transsexual”

adv

1. (archaic, literary, not-comparable)Surpassingly, greatly.

   “[...] for she was called a fair lady, and a passing wise, and her name was called Igraine.”

   “How wonderful is Death, / Death and his brother Sleep! / One, pale as yonder waning moon / With lips of lurid blue; / The other, rosy as the morn / When throned on ocean's wave / It blushes o'er the world: / Yet both so passing wonderful!”

   “She's passing fair; but so demure is she / So quiet is her gown, so smooth her hair, […]”

   “I find it passing strange that convicts understand honest folk, but honest folk don't understand convicts.”

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)Death, dying; the end of something.
2. (countable, uncountable)The fact of going past; a movement from one place to another or a change from one state to another.

   “And since he did not see Louie by the folding door, Louie knew that in his former passings and repassings he could not have seen her either.”

3. (countable, uncountable)The act of approving a bill etc.

   “But capital was proving difficult to raise; rumours were in the air that the G.W.R. and L.S.W.R. were about to patch up their quarrel, and the people of Southampton, who twelve months earlier had staged a torch-light procession to celebrate the passing of the D.N.S.R. Act, were increasingly loath to part with their cash.”

4. (countable, uncountable)The act of passing a ball etc. to another player.
5. (countable, uncountable)A form of juggling where several people pass props between each other, usually clubs or rings.
6. (countable, uncountable)The ability of a person to be regarded as a member of an identity group or category different from their own.