Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - transit

 I. noun  Etymology: Middle English ~e, from Latin ~us, from transire to go across, pass  Date: 15th century  1.  a. an act, process, or instance of passing through or over ; passage  b. change, ~ion  c.  (1) conveyance of persons or things from one place to another  (2) usually local transportation especially of people by public conveyance; also vehicles or a system engaged in such transportation  2.  a. passage of a celestial body over the meridian of a place or through the field of a telescope  b. passage of a smaller body (as Venus) across the disk of a larger (as the sun)  3. a theodolite with the telescope mounted so that it can be ~ed  II. verb  Date: 15th century  in~ive verb to make a ~  ~ive verb  1.  a. to pass over or through ; traverse  b. to cause to pass over or through  2. to pass across (a meridian, a celestial body, or the field of view of a telescope)  3. to turn (a telescope) over about the horizontal transverse axis in surveying