Search the Dictionary

short time; not enduring; fleeting; evanescent. Comfort and succor all those who, in this transitory life, are in trouble. Bk. of Com. Prayer. It was not the transitory light of a comet, which shines and glows for a wile, and then . . . vanishes into nothing. South. Transitory action (Law), an action which may be broug…

efly in highly specialized cells which are incapable of long-continued multiplication, in transitory structures, and in those in early stages of degeneration.

Perishable; frail; transitory. [Obs.] Hickes. The caduke pleasures of his world. Bp. Fisher.

A light transitory air which ruffles the surface of the water during a calm, or the ripples made by such a puff of air.

from a thing in action. -- Chose local, a thing annexed to a place, as a mill. -- Chose transitory, a thing which is movable. Cowell. Blount.

Passing swiftly away; not durable; transient; transitory; as, the fleeting hours or moments.

A short, hurried view; a transitory or fragmentary perception; a quick sight. Here hid by shrub wood, there by glimpses seen. S. Rogers.

Metaphorically used for what is transitory. Surely the people is grass. Is. xl. 7.

in activity, agency, or effect, to the subject or associated acts; -- opposed to emanant, transitory, transitive, or objective. A cognition is an immanent act of mind. Sir W. Hamilton. An immanent power in the life of the world. Hare.

as must be brought in a particular county, where the cause arises; -- distinguished from transitory actions. -- Local affection (Med.), a disease or ailment confined to a particular part or organ, and not directly affecting the system. -- Local attraction (Magnetism), an attraction near a compass, causing its needle…

ever. (a) (Med.) A fever which accompanies or precedes the first lactation. It is usually transitory. (b) (Vet. Surg.) A form puerperal peritonitis in cattle; also, a variety of meningitis occurring in cows after calving. -- Milk glass, glass having a milky appearance. -- Milk knot (Med.), a hard lump forming in the…

A paroxysm of extreme pain or anguish; a sudden and transitory agony; a throe; as, the pangs of death.

The period of a transitory breeze.

Not transitory; not liable to fade or vanish; lasting; as, a standing color.

uration; not permanent; not lasting or durable; not stationary; passing; fleeting; brief; transitory; as, transient pleasure. "Measured this transient world." Milton.

In a transitory manner; with brief continuance.

The quality or state of being transitory; speedy passage or departure.

Something unsubstantial, fleeting, or transitory; unreal fancy; vain imagination; idle talk; boasting. For what is your life It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. James iv. 14.

Fig.: Empty; airy. "Windy joy." Milton. Here's that windy applause, that poor, transitory pleasure, for which I was dishonored. South.

bacteria imbedded in a viscous gelatinous substance. The zoögloea is characteristic of a transitory stage through which rapidly multiplying bacteria pass in the course of their evolution. Also used adjectively.