passport

3 definitions found

passport - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Passport \Pass"port\, n. [F. passeport, orig., a permission to
     leave a port or to sail into it; passer to pass + port a
     port, harbor. See Pass, and Port a harbor.]
     1. Permission to pass; a document given by the competent
        officer of a state, permitting the person therein named to
        pass or travel from place to place, without molestation,
        by land or by water.
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              Caution in granting passports to Ireland.
                                                    --Clarendon.
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     2. A document carried by neutral merchant vessels in time of
        war, to certify their nationality and protect them from
        belligerents; a sea letter.
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     3. A license granted in time of war for the removal of
        persons and effects from a hostile country; a
        safe-conduct. --Burrill.
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     4. Figuratively: Anything which secures advancement and
        general acceptance. --Sir P. Sidney.
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              His passport is his innocence and grace. --Dryden.
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passport - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  passport
      n 1: any authorization to pass or go somewhere; "the pass to
           visit had a strict time limit" [syn: pass, passport]
      2: a document issued by a country to a citizen allowing that
         person to travel abroad and re-enter the home country
      3: any quality or characteristic that gains a person a favorable
         reception or acceptance or admission; "her pleasant
         personality is already a recommendation"; "his wealth was not
         a passport into the exclusive circles of society" [syn:
         recommendation, passport]

passport - Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) :

  PASSPORT, SEA BRIEF, or SEA LETTER, maritime law. A paper containing a 
  permission from the neutral state to the captain or master of a ship or 
  vessel to proceed on the voyage proposed; it usually contains his name and 
  residence; the name, property, description, tonnage and destination of the 
  ship; the nature and quantity of the cargo; the place from whence it comes, 
  and its destination; with such other matters as the practice of the place 
  requires. 
       2. This document is indispensably necessary in time of war for the 
  safety of every neutral vessel. Marsh. Ins. B. 1, c. 9, s. 6, p. 406, b. 
       3. In most countries of continental Europe passports are given to 
  travellers; these are intended to protect them on their journey from all 
  molestation, while they are obedient to the laws. Passports are also granted 
  by the secretary of state to persons travelling abroad, certifying that they 
  are citizens of the United States. 9 Pet. 692. Vide 1 Kent, Com. 162, 182; 
  Merl. Repert. h.t.