transit Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a surveying instrument for measuring horizontal and vertical angles, consisting of a small telescope mounted on a tripod
theodolite.
noun a facility consisting of the means and equipment necessary for the movement of passengers or goods
transportation system; transportation.
noun a journey usually by ship
passage.
- the outward passage took 10 days
verb make a passage or journey from one place to another
move through; pass through; pass across; pass over.
- The tourists moved through the town and bought up all the souvenirs
- "Some travelers pass through the desert
verb 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
verb revolve (the telescope of a surveying transit) about its horizontal transverse axis in order to reverse its direction
verb cause or enable to pass through
- The canal will transit hundreds of ships every day

L. transitus, from transire to go over: cf. F. transit. See Transient.

The act of passing; passage through or over.
In France you are now . . . in the transit from one form of government to another. Burke.
The act or process of causing to pass; conveyance; as, the transit of goods through a country.
A line or route of passage or conveyance; as, the Nicaragua transit. E. G. Squier.
(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.
An instrument resembling a theodolite, used by surveyors and engineers; -- called also transit compass, and surveyor's transit. ✍ 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.