n.
Pronunciation: ' tran(t)-s ə t, ' tran-z ə t
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English transite, from Latin transitus, from transire to go across, passive
Date: 15th century
1 a : an act, process, or instance of passing through or over : PASSAGE b : CHANGE , TRANSITION c (1) : conveyance of persons or things from one place to another (2) : usu. local transportation especially of people by public conveyance also : vehicles or a system engaged in such transportation
2 a : passage of a celestial body over the meridian of a place or through the field of a telescope b : passage of a smaller body (as Venus) across the disk of a larger (as the sun)
3 : a theodolite with the telescope mounted so that it can be transited