Middle English Dictionary Entry

passiǒun n.
Quotations: Show all Hide all

Entry Info

Forms passiǒun n. Also pasion, (Latinate) passio & pascioun, paissioun, paisson, paissoin(e & (errors) possione, passium, passycion.
Etymology OF passïon & L passio, -iōnis.

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

1.
(a) That which must be endured, suffering, pain; a pang of hunger, etc.; also, suffering as penance [quot.: PPl.B]; passiounes of ded, death pangs; (b) a means of torment.
Show 23 Quotations
2.
(a) An ailment, a disease, an affliction; also, an attack of fever; also fig.; passiounes of bones (teth, splen, skin, etc.), ailments of bones (teeth, the spleen, the skin, etc.); passiounes of woundes, infections of wounds; (b) ~ artetic, arthritis; cardiacle ~, a heart ailment [see also cardiacle n. (c)]; cold passiounes, maladies characterized by the dominance of cold; colik (colikes) ~, colic [see also colik adj. & n.]; ilik ~, an intestinal disorder [see also ilik n. & adj.]; ivel ~, a serious disease; a likinge ~, a pleasant ailment; ~ lunatik, lunacy; malencolie (malencolious) passiounes, ~ of malencolie, ailment(s associated with an excess of black bile; ~ menstrual, menstruation; ~ rethanoxon, holi ~, epilepsy; ~ sciatica, sciatica ~, sciatica; talparia & testudinaria ~, an ailment of the skin of the head characterized by a lump or lumps; ~ unhelable, an incurable condition; wateri ~, an ailment characterized by an accumulation of water, dropsy; (c) a secretion.
Show 52 Quotations
3.
(a) The suffering of Christ; the sufferings and death of Christ, the Passion; (b) bitter (gret, hard, peineful, pitous, etc.) ~; blessed (digne, glorious, holi, precious, swete, etc.) ~; jesus) cristes ~, oure lordes ~, goddes ~; ~ of (jesus) crist, ~ of crist jesus, passiounes of crist; time of his ~; haven ~ of his moder, to undergo suffering on his mother's account; don ~, cause (Christ) to suffer; suffren (tholen) ~, undergo suffering; (c) the suffering and death of a saint or martyr; martyrdom; (d) a narrative of Christ's Passion or of the martyrdom of a saint; the gospel account of the Passion; a saint's legend; (e) an image or a depiction of the Passion of Christ or of the martyrdom of a saint; armes of the (of thi, etc.) ~, armorial depictions of the scourge and other objects associated with the Passion; (f) a commemoration of the Passion or the time for such a commemoration; Passiontide; ~ sondai, the sondai of the ~, the Sunday before Palm Sunday, Passion Sunday; ~ weke, the week before Palm Sunday; ~ time, Passiontide; ~ auter, an altar dedicated to the Passion.
Show 116 Quotations
4.
(a) An emotion; desire, inclination; feeling, passion; an emotion, a sin, or the desire to sin considered as an affliction; also, passion personified [quot.: Pilgr.LM]; passiounes of the soule, afflictions of the mind or feelings; sensible passiones, sensual desires; (b) disturbance; ~ of the air; (c) property of a food, nutritional effect; (d) sympathy.
Show 26 Quotations
5.
One or all of the five senses; the senses considered as the passive, receptive side of the intellect.
Show 5 Quotations
6.
The fact or condition of being acted upon, passivity.
Show 4 Quotations

Supplemental Materials (draft)

  • c1450 Peniarth Accedence(1) (Pen 356B)8/326 : A party of spech þat ys vndeclynet þe wech betokyns passion of a monus sole wt a imperfyt voyse, as 'fyt', 'out', alas' and 'watlaway'.
    • Note: Additional quot. for sense 4.(a), 'distress, emotional affliction, vexation.'

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc., see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. passio.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc., see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. passion.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc. (sense 2.(b)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. artetic passion.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc. (sense 2.(b)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. cold passion.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc. (sense 2.(b)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. holy passion.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc. (sense 2.(b)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. melancholious passion.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc. (sense 2.(b)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. melancholy passion.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc. (sense 2.(b)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. sciatica passio.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: Med., etc. (sense 2.(b)), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. sciatica passion.

©2023 Regents of the University of Michigan. For details about this collection's copyright see the MEC copyright statement and the U-M Library Copyright Policy. Data last refreshed November 2019.