different between course vs passing

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kôs, IPA^(key): /k??s/
• (General American) enPR: kôrs, IPA^(key): /k???s/, /k??s/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: k?rs, IPA^(key): /ko(?)?s/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ko?s/
• (Tasmania) IPA^(key): /k??s/
• Homophone: coarse; curse (Tasmania)
• Rhymes: -??(?)s, -??(?)s (Tasmania)

Etymology 1

From Middle English cours, from Old French cours, from Latin cursus (“course of a race”), from curr? (“run”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *?ers- (“to run”). Doublet of cursus.

Noun

course (plural courses)

1. A sequence of events.
   1. A normal or customary sequence.
   2. A programme, a chosen manner of proceeding.
   3. Any ordered process or sequence of steps.
   4. A learning programme, whether a single class or (Britain) a major area of study.
      • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond

        During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]

      • 1992 August 21, Edwina Currie, Diary:

        Her course will be ‘Communication Studies with Theatre Studies’: God, how tedious, how pointless.
   5. (especially in medicine) A treatment plan.
      • 1932, Agatha Christie, The Thirteen Problems

        Miss Clark, alarmed at her increasing stoutness, was doing a course of what is popularly known as banting.

   6. A stage of a meal.

   7. The succession of one to another in office or duty; order; turn.

      • He appointed […] the courses of the priests.

2. A path that something or someone moves along.
   1. The itinerary of a race.

   2. A racecourse.
   3. The path taken by a flow of water; a watercourse.
   4. (sports) The trajectory of a ball, frisbee etc.
   5. (golf) A golf course.
   6. (nautical) The direction of movement of a vessel at any given moment.

   7. (navigation) The intended passage of voyage, such as a boat, ship, airplane, spaceship, etc.

3. (nautical) The lowest square sail in a fully rigged mast, often named according to the mast.

4. (in the plural, courses, obsolete, euphemistic) Menses.
5. A row or file of objects.
   1. (masonry) A row of bricks or blocks.

   2. (roofing) A row of material that forms the roofing, waterproofing or flashing system.
   3. (textiles) In weft knitting, a single row of loops connecting the loops of the preceding and following rows.
6. (music) One or more strings on some musical instruments (such as the guitar, lute or vihuela): if multiple, then closely spaced, tuned in unison or octaves and intended to played together.

Hyponyms

• bird course
• crash course
• due course
• massive open online course (MOOC)

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

course (third-person singular simple present courses, present participle coursing, simple past and past participle coursed)

1. To run or flow (especially of liquids and more particularly blood).

   The oil coursed through the engine.

   Blood pumped around the human body courses throughout all its veins and arteries.

   • 2013, Martina Hyde, "Is the pope Catholic?", The Guardian, 20 September 2013[1]

     He is a South American, so perhaps revolutionary spirit courses through Francis's veins. But what, pray, does the Catholic church want with doubt?

2. (transitive) To run through or over.
3. (transitive) To pursue by tracking or estimating the course taken by one's prey; to follow or chase after.
4. (transitive) To cause to chase after or pursue game.

   to course greyhounds after deer

Translations

Etymology 2

Clipping of of course

Adverb

course (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) Alternative form of of course

Anagrams

• Couser, Crouse, Crusoe, cerous, coures, crouse, source

French

Etymology

From Old French cours, from Latin cursus (“course of a race”), from curr? (“run”), with influence of Italian corsa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ku?s/

Noun

course f (plural courses)

1. run, running
2. race
3. errand

Usage notes

• course is a false friend, it does not mean "course". To translate the English word course to French, use cours.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Romanian: curs?

Further reading

• “course” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• coeurs, cœurs
• coures
• écrous
• source

Norman

Etymology

From Old French cours, from Latin cursus (“course of a race”), from curr? (“run”).

Noun

course f (plural courses)

1. (Jersey) course

English

Etymology

From pass +? -ing.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p??s??/

Verb

passing

1. present participle of pass

Descendants

• Japanese: ????? (passhingu)

Adjective

passing (comparative more passing, superlative most passing)

1. That passes away; ephemeral. [from 14th c.]
   • 1814, Lord Byron, Lara, I.15:

     And solace sought he none from priest nor leech, / And soon the same in movement and in speech / As heretofore he fill'd the passing hours […]

   • 2010, Marianne Kirby, The Guardian, 21 Sep 2010:

     It might be possible to dismiss #dittowatch as just another passing internet fancy. After all, hashtags are ephemeral.

2. (now rare, literary) Pre-eminent, excellent, extreme. [from 14th c.]
   • 1835, Washington Irving, The Crayon Miscellany:

     It was by dint of passing strength, / That he moved the massy stone at length.

   • 1847, Robert Holmes, The Case of Ireland Stated:

     That parliament was destined, in one short hour of convulsive strength, in one short hour of passing glory, to humble the pride and alarm the fears of England.

3. Vague, cursory. [from 18th c.]
   • 2011, Stewart J Lawrence, The Guardian, 14 Jun 2011:

     Ardent pro-lifer Rick Santorum made one passing reference to "authenticity" as a litmus test for a conservative candidate, but if he was obliquely referring to Romney (and he was), you could be excused for missing the dig.

4. Going past.

Translations

Adverb

passing (not comparable)

1. (literary or archaic) Surpassingly, greatly. [from 14th c.]
   • 2010 October 30, Simon Hattenstone, The Guardian:

     I find it passing strange that convicts understand honest folk, but honest folk don't understand convicts.

Usage notes

• This use is sometimes misconstrued as meaning "vaguely" or "slightly" (perhaps by confusion with such phrases as "passing fancy", under Adjective, above), leading to formations such as "more than passing clever" etc.

Translations

Noun

passing (countable and uncountable, plural passings)

1. Death, dying; the end of something. [from 14th c.]
2. The fact of going past; a movement from one place to another or a change from one state to another. [from 14th c.]
   • 1913, Oliver Onions, The Story of Louie

     And since he did not see Louie by the folding door, Louie knew that in his former passings and repassings he could not have seen her either.

3. (law) The act of approving a bill etc. [from 15th c.]
4. (sports) The act of passing a ball etc. to another player. [from 19th c.]
5. A form of juggling where several people pass props between each other, usually clubs or rings.
6. (sociology) The ability of a person to be regarded as a member of an identity group or category different from their own.

   Coordinate term: pass

   • 1963, Erving Goffman, 'Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity' , Ch.2 at p.57, 58 (page numbers per the Pelican Books 1976 reprint)

     When there is a discrepancy between an individual's actual social identity and his virtual one, it is possible for this fact to be known to us before we normals contact him, or to be quite evident when he presents himself before us. He is a discredited person, and it is mainly he I have been dealing with until now.
     [...] However, when his differentness is not immediately apparent, and is not known beforehand, [...] he is a discreditable, not a discredited person [...]. The issue is [...] that of managing information about his failing. To display or not to display; to tell or not to tell; to let on or not to let on; to lie or not to lie; and in each case, to whom, how, when, and where.
     [...] It is this second general issue, the management of undisclosed discrediting information about self, that I am focusing on in these notes - in brief, 'passing'.

Translations

French

Etymology

From English passing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?.si?/

Noun

passing m (uncountable)

1. (juggling) passing

   Le passing, ou comment jongler à plusieurs. (www.multiloisirs.com)

Further reading

• “passing” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).