[ad. L. transmittĕre, f. L. TRANS- + mittĕre to send.]
1. trans. To cause (a thing) to pass, go, or be conveyed to another person, place, or thing; to send across an intervening space; to convey, transfer.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 4335. Nouthire to toly ne to taunde transmitte we na webbis, Io vermylion ne violett ne variant littis.
1544. Coverdale, Lett. to C. Hubert, Wks. (Parker Soc.), II. 509. Take care … that they be transmitted to me with the paper of Cephalæus.
1612. Davies, Why Irel., etc. (1747), 24. From this time forward untill the 17 year of King John … there was no army transmitted out of England to finish the Conquest.
1644. Milton, Areop. (Arb.), 46. That Eusebian book of Evangelick preparation transmitting our ears through a hoard of heathenish obscenities, to receive the Gospel.
1701. Penn, in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem., IX. 77. Hasten in my rents and debts, and transmit them with all possible speed.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 376. The expense of transmitting heavy goods in this way was enormous.
1880. C. R. Markham, Peruv. Bark, iii. 273. They merely transmitted my letter to the Secretary of State, without any recommendation.
b. intr. (for refl.) To pass to the heirs.
1913. H. Goudy, in Ess. Legal Hist. of Congr. Hist. Stud., 208. Where … a delictal action was not strictly penal … it transmitted both actively and passively. Ibid., 218. In contracts the right of action almost invariably transmitted both to the heirs of the creditor and against the heirs of the debtor.
2. fig. To convey or communicate (usually something immaterial) to another or others; to pass on, esp. by inheritance or heredity; to hand down.
1629. H. Burton, Truth’s Triumph, 91. This word of faith … wee shall transmit and conuay it, euen vnto posterity.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., III. xlii. 267. His Apostles … transmitted the same Spirit by Imposition of hands.
1710. Prideaux, Orig. Tithes, v. 234. The House of Lords … had this power transmitted solely to them exclusive of the House of Commons.
1738. in Nairne Peerage Evid. (1874), 42. The said John Nairne … is likewise wholly disabled to take transmit or inherit any real or personal estate.
1828. Duppa, Trav. Italy, etc., 64. A glowing diffusion of light, of which Claude’s finest pictures transmit but a faint resemblance.
1862. Stanley, Jew. Ch. (1877), I. xiii. 248. Samuel … had actually transmitted the office by hereditary succession to his sons.
1910. Morning Post, 28 June, 3/7. Capacity for milk-production, for early maturity [etc.] … are definitely fixed, and definitely transmitted from good sires.
3. Physics and Mech. To cause (light, heat, sound, etc.) to pass through a medium; also, of a medium, to allow (light, etc.) to pass through; to conduct. Also, to convey (force or movement) from one part of a body, or of mechanism, to another. Also fig.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 26. View her with a full light transmitted through a Burning-glass.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 156, ¶ 2. Like light transmitted from room to room.
1795. Ld. Auckland, Corr. (1862), III. 313. Imagination transmits some rays of your comfort at Beckenham to my pensive thoughts.
1831. Lardner, Pneumatics, iv. 267. It is the nature of a fluid to transmit pressure equally in every direction.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Charmed Sea, iv. 54. How … the atmosphere, in its now approaching state, becomes incapable of transmitting sound to any distance.
1842. Parnell, Chem. Anal. (1845), 29. Hydrosulphate of ammonia is prepared by transmitting sulphuretted hydrogen gas through solution of ammonia.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., II. XII. 2. The motion of the handle on deck is transmitted … by means of a series of shaftings and tooth-wheels.
1866. Roscoe, Elem. Chem. (1871), 275. Gold in thin films, transmits green light.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 171. The motion is transmitted from particle to particle, to a great distance.
Hence Transmitted ppl. a.; Transmitting vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1681. R. Fleming, Fulfilling Script. (1801), I. 430. Study the transmitting of truth and godliness.
1796. Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), I. 271. By reflected light, blackish brown; but, by transmitted light, yellowish.
1800. Herschel, in Phil. Trans., XC. 458. I tried the transmitting capacity of the glass, by exposing it with the rough side towards the sun, over one of the transmitting holes of the apparatus.
1869. Haddan, Apost. Succ., iii. (1879), 56. The Church … has been held together compactly by the very fact of its transmitted orders.
1876. Preece & Sivewright, Telegraphy, 137. The battery which is connected to … the transmitting portion of the apparatus.
