DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 North·west, a.
 1. Pertaining to, or in the direction of, the point between the north and west; being in the northwest; toward the northwest, or coming from the northwest; as, the northwest coast.
 2. Coming from the northwest; as, a northwest wind.
 Northwest passage, a passage or communication by sea between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans along the north coast of America, long sought for by navigators.

 Pas·sage n.
 1. The act of passing; transit from one place to another; movement from point to point; a going by, over, across, or through; as, the passage of a man or a carriage; the passage of a ship or a bird; the passage of light; the passage of fluids through the pores or channels of the body.
    What! are my doors opposed against my passage!   --Shak.
 2. Transit by means of conveyance; journey, as by water, carriage, car, or the like; travel; right, liberty, or means, of passing; conveyance.
    The ship in which he had taken passage.   --Macaulay.
 3. Price paid for the liberty to pass; fare; as, to pay one's passage.
 4. Removal from life; decease; departure; death. [R.] “Endure thy mortal passage.”
    When he is fit and season'd for his passage.   --Shak.
 5. Way; road; path; channel or course through or by which one passes; way of exit or entrance; way of access or transit. Hence, a common avenue to various apartments in a building; a hall; a corridor.
 And with his pointed dart
 Explores the nearest passage to his heart.   --Dryden.
    The Persian army had advanced into the . . . passages of Cilicia.   --South.
 6. A continuous course, process, or progress; a connected or continuous series; as, the passage of time.
    The conduct and passage of affairs.   --Sir J. Davies.
    The passage and whole carriage of this action.   --Shak.
 7. A separate part of a course, process, or series; an occurrence; an incident; an act or deed. “In thy passages of life.”
    The . . . almost incredible passage of their unbelief.   --South.
 8. A particular portion constituting a part of something continuous; esp., a portion of a book, speech, or musical composition; a paragraph; a clause.
    How commentators each dark passage shun.   --Young.
 9. Reception; currency. [Obs.]
 10. A pass or en encounter; as, a passage at arms.
 No passages of love
 Betwixt us twain henceforward evermore.   --Tennyson.
 11. A movement or an evacuation of the bowels.
 12. In parliamentary proceedings: (a) The course of a proposition (bill, resolution, etc.) through the several stages of consideration and action; as, during its passage through Congress the bill was amended in both Houses. (b) The advancement of a bill or other proposition from one stage to another by an affirmative vote; esp., the final affirmative action of the body upon a proposition; hence, adoption; enactment; as, the passage of the bill to its third reading was delayed. “The passage of the Stamp Act.”
    The final question was then put upon its passage.   --Cushing.
 In passage, in passing; cursorily. “These . . . have been studied but in passage.” --Bacon.
 Middle passage, Northeast passage, Northwest passage. See under Middle, Northeast, etc.
 Of passage, passing from one place, region, or climate, to another; migratory; -- said especially of birds. “Birds of passage.” --Longfellow.
 Passage hawk, a hawk taken on its passage or migration.
 Passage money, money paid for conveyance of a passenger, -- usually for carrying passengers by water.
 Syn: -- Vestibule; hall; corridor. See Vestibule.
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 Northwest Passage
      n : a water route between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans
          along the northern coast of North America; Europeans
          since the 16th century had searched for a short route to
          the Far East before it was successfully traversed by
          Roald Amundsen (1903-1906)