[ad. L. transitiōn-em, n. of action f. transīre, transit- (see TRANSIT v.). Cf. F. transition (13–14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.).]
1. A passing or passage from one condition, action, or (rarely) place, to another; change.
1555. Gardiner, Explication, Of Transubstantiation, 123. In the mysterie of Christes person, there is no transition of the deitie into the humanite, or humanite into the deitie.
1621. G. Sandys, Ovid’s Met., VI. (1626), 109. The vast sky painted with a mightie Bowe: Where, though a thousand seuerall colours shine, No eye their close transition can define.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 172, ¶ 7. A quick transition from poverty to abundance can seldom be made with safety.
1851. Hawthorne, Ho. Sev. Gables, xvii. Transition being so facile, what can be any man’s inducement to tarry in one spot?
1862. Sir H. Holland, Ess., i. 1. We are living in an age of transition.
1899. Stalker, Christology of Jesus, v. 186. Death was … only a stage of transition to a higher form of life.
2. Passage in thought, speech, or writing from one subject to another.
1592. trans. Junius on Rev. vii. 1. This first verse is a transition.
1674. Milton, P. L. (ed. 2), XII. 5. Heer the Archangel paus’d … Then with transition sweet new Speech resumes.
1724. Watts, Logic, IV. ii. vii. § 3. Acquaint yourself with all the proper … forms of transition from one part of a discourse to another.
1798. Edgeworth, Pract. Educ. (1811), I. 115. The transition of attention from one subject to another.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 15. The Timaeus … one of his [Plato’s] most finished works, is full of abrupt transitions.
3. Mus. † a. The passing from one note to another by means of a passing-note (obs.). b. The passing from one key to another, modulation; spec. a passing or brief modulation; also, modulation into a remote key.
1667. C. Simpson, Compend. Mus., 88. A Note is somtimes broken to make a Transition by degrees to some other Concord. These Transitions or Breakings are commonly express’d in Quavers or Crochets.
1877. Stainer, Harmony, xii. § 150. A Transition is the rapid passing through any key, without remaining sufficiently long in it to establish a modulation.
1889. Prout, Harmony, x. (ed. 3), 101. Some writers use the term ‘Transition,’ when the modulation is to a remote or unrelated key.
4. The passage from an earlier to a later stage of development or formation. a. Geol. Formerly spec. applied attrib. to certain early stratified rocks believed to contain the oldest remains of living organisms; now classified as Silurian: see quot. 1813.
1813. Bakewell, Introd. Geol. (1815), 9. The lowest of the secondary rocks have … been called by the German geologists transition rocks, from the supposition that they were formed when the world was passing from an uninhabitable to a habitable state.
1815. W. Phillips, Outl. Min. & Geol. (1818), 116. To primitive rocks succeeds another class, which Werner denominates Transition rocks.
1823. Buckland, Reliq. Diluv., 117. It lies in a bed of transition limestone.
1834–5. J. Phillips, Geol., in Encycl. Metrop., VI. 593/2. On the East side of the transition ranges of the Wrekin and Wenlock Edge lies the coalfield of Coalbrook Dale.
1839. Murchison, Silur. Syst., I. xxxiv. 452. It also presents certain beds of transition between the limestone and the Old Red Sandstone.
1855. J. Phillips, Man. Geol., 104. The two parts connected by a transition band (upper caradoc).
1885. Geikie, Text-bk. Geol., VI. II. ii. § 1. 658. Murchison was the first to discover that the so-called ‘Transition Rocks’ or ‘Grauwacke’ of early geological literature were capable of subdivision into distinct formations … he gave them the name of Silurian.
b. Arch. Change from an earlier style to a later; a style of intermediate or mixed character.
1835. R. Willis, Archit. Mid. Ages, i. 9. These may be called Imitation Specimens, to distinguish them from regular Transitions.
1842–76. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Transition, a term used to denote the passing from one period of a style to another, exhibiting features peculiar to both, some of which have not quite been given up, and some of which were beginning to be introduced.
1874. Parker, Goth. Archit., I. iii. 39. The remainder of the eleventh century may be considered as a period of transition.
c. Philol. The historical passage of language from one well-defined stage to another; e.g., from Old English or Anglo-Saxon to Middle English; or from Middle English to Modern English; hence applied to the interval occupied by this, and to the intermediate or transitional stage or form of the language during this interval.
1873–4. Sweet, Hist. Eng. Sounds, 160. We have … two periods of transition, one in which nama and name exist side by side, and another in which final e is beginning to drop…. The former, commonly called Semi-Saxon…, is characterized by many far-reaching changes. I propose … to call the first the Transition period par excellence, distinguishing the two, when necessary, as first and second Transition, the more important one being generally called simply Transition or Transition-English. Ibid., 38. In the Transition period … we are confronted by [a] curious and apparently inexplicable phenomenon.
1878. Murray, Eng. Lang., in Encycl. Brit., VIII. 391/2. Transition Old English, or ‘Semi-Saxon’ 1120 to 1200…. Transition Middle English 1400 to 1485…. Many writers carry the Transition Old English down to 1250. Ibid., 397/2. The change of the language during the second period of Transition. Ibid., 402. Chronological Chart [has] Old English Transition 1123–1200. Middle English Transition, 1400–1485.
5. attrib., as transition form, species, stage, state, etc.: see also 4 a and c. Often equivalent to TRANSITIONAL.
1805–17. R. Jameson, Char. Min. (ed. 3), 126. All the crystals that lie between two principal crystals, and form the transition of one into the other, constitute what is called a transition-suite.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol. (1828), III. xxix. 161. Groups … connected by certain transition species.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xxvii. 343. The most obstinate form [of the disease] generally selects such transition spots or intermediate tissues.
1853. J. Smith, Treat. Mus., 33. Transition or passing notes.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng., I. ii. 86. Wolsey … holding a middle place between an English statesman and a catholic of the old order, was essentially a transition minister.
1865. Tylor, Early Hist. Man., vii. 188. A very good example of this interesting transition work.
1884. J. Tait, Mind in Matter (1892), 50. The transition-stages set forth by revolutionists.
