passus

American  

[pas-uhs] / ˌpæs əs /

noun

plural

passus, passuses

1. a section or division of a story, poem, etc.; canto.

---

passus British  

/ ˈpæsəs /

noun

1. (esp in medieval literature) a division or section of a poem, story, etc

---

Etymology

Origin of passus

1565–75; < Medieval Latin, Latin: step. See pace ¹

Example Sentences

Most people falling in love with, say, Dido’s Lament by Henry Purcell – apparently the UK’s favourite aria – are unlikely to be getting their kicks from spotting that passus duriusculus; it’s probably not being able to identify the tierce de Picardie at the end of Dvorák’s New World Symphony that makes it endure.

From The Guardian

Skeat, B, passus V, ll. 153-65.

From Project Gutenberg

Propter alteram quid non passus?

From Project Gutenberg

Patricius prædicabat Scotis Passus multos labores in Latio Ut venirent in die judicii Quos convertit ad vitam æternam.

From Project Gutenberg

At the consubstantialem patri, a short but very powerful figure commences; the incarnatus est is a movement of very pathetic effect, and the tender and touching passage, passus et sepultus est, with its well placed dissonances in the violin accompaniment, is not to be described.

From Project Gutenberg