The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Transit \Trans"it\, n. [L. transitus, from transire to go over:
   cf. F. transit. See Transient.]
   1. The act of passing; passage through or over.
      [1913 Webster]

            In France you are now . . . in the transit from one
            form of government to another.        --Burke.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The act or process of causing to pass; conveyance; as, the
      transit of goods through a country.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A line or route of passage or conveyance; as, the
      Nicaragua transit. --E. G. Squier.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (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.
          [1913 Webster]

   5. An instrument resembling a theodolite, used by surveyors
      and engineers; -- called also transit compass, and
      surveyor's transit.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: 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.
         [1913 Webster]

   Lower transit (Astron.), the passage of a heavenly body
      across that part of the meridian which is below the polar
      axis.

   Surveyor's transit. See Transit, 5, above.

   Transit circle (Astron.), a transit instrument with a
      graduated circle attached, used for observing the time of
      transit and the declination at one observation. See
      Circle, n., 3.

   Transit compass. See Transit, 5, above.

   Transit duty, a duty paid on goods that pass through a
      country.

   Transit instrument. (Astron.)
      (a) A telescope mounted at right angles to a horizontal
          axis, on which it revolves with its line of
          collimation in the plane of the meridian, -- used in
          connection with a clock for observing the time of
          transit of a heavenly body over the meridian of a
          place.
      (b) (Surv.) A surveyor's transit. See Transit, 5, above.


   Transit trade (Com.), the business conected with the
      passage of goods through a country to their destination.


   Upper transit (Astron.), the passage of a heavenly body
      across that part of the meridian which is above the polar
      axis.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Transit \Trans"it\, v. t. (Astron.)
   To pass over the disk of (a heavenly body).
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Eclipse \E*clipse"\ ([-e]*kl[i^]ps"), n. [F. ['e]clipse, L.
   eclipsis, fr. Gr. 'e`kleipsis, prop., a forsaking, failing,
   fr. 'eklei`pein to leave out, forsake; 'ek out + lei`pein to
   leave. See Ex-, and Loan.]
   1. (Astron.) An interception or obscuration of the light of
      the sun, moon, or other luminous body, by the intervention
      of some other body, either between it and the eye, or
      between the luminous body and that illuminated by it. A
      lunar eclipse is caused by the moon passing through the
      earth's shadow; a solar eclipse, by the moon coming
      between the sun and the observer. A satellite is eclipsed
      by entering the shadow of its primary. The obscuration of
      a planet or star by the moon or a planet, though of the
      nature of an eclipse, is called an occultation. The
      eclipse of a small portion of the sun by Mercury or Venus
      is called a transit of the planet.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: In ancient times, eclipses were, and among
         unenlightened people they still are, superstitiously
         regarded as forerunners of evil fortune, a sentiment of
         which occasional use is made in literature.
         [1913 Webster]

               That fatal and perfidious bark,
               Built in the eclipse, and rigged with curses
               dark.                              --Milton.
         [1913 Webster]

   2. The loss, usually temporary or partial, of light,
      brilliancy, luster, honor, consciousness, etc.;
      obscuration; gloom; darkness.
      [1913 Webster]

            All the posterity of our fist parents suffered a
            perpetual eclipse of spiritual life.  --Sir W.
                                                  Raleigh.
      [1913 Webster]

            As in the soft and sweet eclipse,
            When soul meets soul on lovers' lips. --Shelley.
      [1913 Webster]

   Annular eclipse. (Astron.) See under Annular.

   Cycle of eclipses. See under Cycle.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

transit
    n 1: a surveying instrument for measuring horizontal and
         vertical angles, consisting of a small telescope mounted on
         a tripod [syn: theodolite, transit]
    2: a facility consisting of the means and equipment necessary
       for the movement of passengers or goods [syn: transportation
       system, transportation, transit]
    3: a journey usually by ship; "the outward passage took 10 days"
       [syn: passage, transit]
    v 1: make a passage or journey from one place to another; "The
         tourists moved through the town and bought up all the
         souvenirs;" "Some travelers pass through the desert" [syn:
         transit, pass through, move through, pass across,
         pass over]
    2: 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"
    3: revolve (the telescope of a surveying transit) about its
       horizontal transverse axis in order to reverse its direction
    4: cause or enable to pass through; "The canal will transit
       hundreds of ships every day"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

141 Moby Thesaurus words for "transit":
   about-face, alchemy, alteration, assimilation, assumption,
   astrolabe, azimuth circle, azimuth compass, becoming, bevel,
   bevel protractor, bevel square, carriage, carrying, cartage,
   change, change-over, clinometer, communication, commutation,
   conduction, contagion, convection, conversion, conveyance, course,
   cover, cross, crossing, delivery, deportation, diapedesis,
   diffusion, dissemination, do, export, exportation, expulsion,
   extradition, flip-flop, globe-trotting, go over, going, goniometer,
   graphometer, growth, haulage, import, importation, interchange,
   journeying, lapse, locomotion, measure, metastasis, metathesis,
   metempsychosis, migration, motion, movement, moving,
   mutual transfer, naturalization, osmosis, overpass, pantometer,
   pass over, pass through, passage, passing, passing over, patrol,
   perambulate, peregrinate, pererrate, perfusion, ply, progress,
   progression, protractor, quadrant, radiogoniometer, range,
   range over, re-formation, reconnoiter, reconversion, reduction,
   resolution, reversal, scour, scour the country, scout, sextant,
   shift, spread, spreading, sweep, switch, switch-over, theodolite,
   tourism, touristry, track, traject, trajet, transduction, transfer,
   transfer of property, transference, transferral, transformation,
   transfusion, transit circle, transit instrument,
   transit theodolite, transition, translation, translocation,
   transmigration, transmigration of souls, transmission, transmittal,
   transmittance, transplacement, transplantation, transport,
   transportation, transporting, transposal, transposition, travel,
   travel over, travel through, traveling, traversal, traverse,
   traversing, turning into, volte-face, voyage



The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

TRANSIT

    A subsystem of ICES.

   [Sammet 1969, p.616].

   (2003-07-12)