[ad. late L. transmigrātiōn-em change of country (in Itala 1 Esdr. vi. 16. the Babylonian Captivity), n. of action from transmigrāre: see prec. Cf. F. transmigration (13th c. in Hatz.-Darm.).]
† 1. The removal of the Jews into captivity at Babylon; sometimes used for the Captivity. Obs.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 196. Þe vifþe [age] was fram dauid to þe transmigracion of babiloyne.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Chron. v. 22. Thei dwelliden for hem unto the transmygracioun.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, IV. iii. (MS. Bodl. 263), 216/2. How God wolde make a transmygracioun Of his kyngdam.
1579. J. Stubbes, Gaping Gulf, B j. The whole people suffered a transmigration irretornable in Assiria.
1609. Bible (Douay), 2 Kings xxv. 27. In the seven and thirteth yeare of the Transmigration.
† b. transf. The body of transmigrated people; the Jews of the Captivity. Obs.
1609. Bible (Douay), Jer. xxviii. 4. Al the transmigration of Juda, that are entered into Babylon, I wil make to returne. Ibid., Ezek. xi. 24. And the spirite … brought me into Chaldee to the transmigration, in a vision in the spirite of God.
2. Passage or removal from one place to another, esp. from one country to another.
1382. Wyclif, Jer. xiii. 19. Translatid is al Juda with parfit transmygracioun [1388 passyng ouere].
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., III. (1520), 21 b/2. He put Nactanabo the kynge in Ethyopia and many Iewes in transmygracyon.
1534. More, Comf. agst. Trib., III. Wks. 1237/2. Yf my transmigracion into a straunge countrey shoulde be any great griefe vnto me.
1630. T. Westcote, Devon., 51. Gentlemen’s younger sons, who, by means of their travel and transmigration are very well qualified, apt, and fit to manage great and high offices in the republic.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 419. The modern Italians are in a great measure free from … the transmigration of colonies.
1842. Westcott in Life (1903), I. ii. 31. You have heard of my transmigration from Birmingham to Ludlow.
1858. H. W. Beecher, Life Th. (1859), 171. Birds in the hour of transmigration feel the impulse of southern lands.
1875. Haddan, in Dict. Chr. Antiq., I. 226/1. [According to] the author of the tract De Translationibus … the thing prohibited is ‘transmigration’ (which arises from the bishop himself, from selfish motives), not ‘translation’ (wherein the will of God and the good of the Church is the ruling cause).
1903. Artrossan & Saltcoats Herald, 1 May, 2. The great Teutonic, Hungarian, Tartar, and Mongolian transmigrations.
b. fig. Of non-material things.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., X. 500. Ignoble Gallants … swallow vp the honour of their … Predecessours, with … Gluttony, Lust, and vaine Apparell, making a Transmigration of perpetuity to their present Belly, and Backe.
a. 1711. Ken, Sion, Poet. Wks. 1721. IV. 397. Love instantly rejoin’d Love from the Lover’s Mind, To God still am’rous Transmigrations makes.
1824. Miss Ferrier, Inher., xxxiv. That enviable power of mental transmigration, which placed him … quite beyond the influence of her power.
† 3. Transition from one state or condition to another; esp. passage from this life, by death; also absol. death. Obs.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 323. His ioyful estate of heauen, after his transmigration out of the labyrinth of this life.
a. 1631. Donne, Serm., lxi. (1640), 613. Enough for thy pilgrimage, enough for thy transmigration, enough for thy eternall habitation.
1675. T. Plume, Life Bp. Hacket (1865), 139. His placid departure, with as gentle a transmigration to happiness as … was ever heard of.
¶ b. Loosely used for transformation or transmutation (cf. transmogrification). Obs.
1618. N. Field, Amends for Ladies, II. i., in Hazl., Dodsley, XI. 113. The teeth she had Have made a transmigration into hair: She hath a bigger beard than I.
1643. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., I. § 39. Those strange and mysticall transmigrations that I have observed in Silkewormes.
4. spec. Passage of the soul at death into another body; metempsychosis. Also fig.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 527. This Transmigration of Soules they called Regeneration, because it was vnto them as it were a generation and newe birth.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, IV. v. I …know her To be a woman-wolf by transmigration.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 38. The Bannyans … For they so much detest the slaughter of any creature, though a Louse … Imagining as did Pythagoras, the transmigration of mens soules into other creatures.
1709–10. Steele, Tatler, No. 134, ¶ 1. A Discourse on the Transmigration of Men into other Animals.
1892. Westcott, Gospel of Life, 153. The Myths of Plato will shew us how great an attraction this doctrine of transmigration exerts upon the imagination of men.
5. Path. The migration or passage of cells through a membrane or the wall of a vessel; the oozing of white blood corpuscles through the unruptured walls of the blood-vessels; diapedesis.
1890. Billings, Med. Dict., Transmigration, a moving across a limiting membrane or out of a vessel or cavity.
1899. Syd. Soc. Lex., Transmigration, the passage of cells or particles through a membranous septum.
Hence Transmigrationism, the theory or doctrine of transmigration of souls; Transmigrationist, one who holds this doctrine; also attrib. or as adj.
1888. F. W. H. Myers, in Fortn. Rev., Jan., 103. Is Traducianism conceivable?… Are we not driven back on some form of *Transmigrationism?
1884. Chr. Commonwealth, 20 March, 545/1. Accessible to the influence of dead and buried Asiatic poetasters and *transmigrationists.
1903. F. W. H. Myers, Hum. Personality II. 267. Both the old traducianist and the old transmigrationist view would thus possess a share of truth.
