transit theodolite

noun

1. 1. passage through or across
   2. a transition; change
2. 1. a carrying or being carried through or across; conveyance: goods in transit
   2. a system of public transportation, esp. in a city
3. a surveying instrument for measuring horizontal angles, a kind of theodolite
   in full transit theodolite
4. Astron.
   1. the apparent passage of a celestial body across a given meridian or through the field of a telescope
   2. the apparent passage of a smaller celestial body across the disk of a larger one, as of Mercury across the sun

Origin: ME transite < L transitus, pp. of transire < trans-, trans- + ire, to go: see year

transitive verb

1. to make a transit through or across
2. to revolve (the telescope of a transit) so as to reverse its direction

intransitive verb