passport

Etymology

From French passeport, from passer (“pass”) +‎ port (“port”). Compare portpass. Equivalent to pass +‎ port.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑːspɔːt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpæspɔɹt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːspɔːt, -æspɔɹt

Noun

passport (plural passports)

1. An official document normally used for international journeys, which proves the identity and nationality of the person for whom it was issued.

   You will have to bring your passport to prove who you are.

   • 1951 November, 'Pausanias', “To Greece by the "Simplon-Orient Express"”, in Railway Magazine, page 728:

     Meanwhile, the Italian authorities examine passports and hand-baggage, except in the case of sleeping-car passengers, who are usually left undisturbed.

   • 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 17, in Crime out of Mind‎:

     Dagobert gave him back his passport. He re-pocketed it indifferently; a talisman which had lost its potency.

2. (by extension, informal) Any document that allows entry or passage.
3. (figuratively) Something which enables someone to do or achieve something.

   The tenor's voice was his passport to the international concert circuit.

4. An identification document used by firefighters, collected when they enter a dangerous area and returned when they leave, to keep track of who is still in the area.

Verb

passport (third-person singular simple present passports, present participle passporting, simple past and past participle passported)

1. To regulate how money given to a local authority must be spent.
   • 2002, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords, The Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).: House of Lords official report:

     Did we not pass an Act last year which passported the money directly through to the schools and gave local authorities very little discretion?

   • 2011, Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Transport Committee, Bus services after the Spending Review:

     They are talking about whether the money that goes into district councils ends up getting passported through to the operators through concessionary fares.

2. Providing the legal requirements to enable or legitimize cross-border economic activity.
   • 2019, Gabriella Gimigliano, “Financial Undertakings, Sharīʿa Rules, and the Internal Market Framework: Challenges and Opportunities”, in Mohyedine Hajjar, editor, Islamic Finance in Europe, page 38:

     Apart from the condition in (ii), which may easily be overcome via an agreement between the depositor and the bank, European legislation does not preclude the entry of Islamic financial undertakings on the internal market at EU-based credit institutions because banking directives allow European credit institutions to perform not only the core banking business, but also passported activities according to the principle of mutual recognition and home country control.

   • 2019, Federico Fabbrini, Marco Ventoruzzo, Research Handbook on EU Economic Law, Edward Elgar Publishing, →ISBN, page 508:

     Also, in this context, rules are different in relation to passporting the asset managers' activities, or the product […]

   • 2022, The Guardian‎:

     She was announcing that a “draft law on criminal liability for forced Russian passporting” had been approved, which was “aimed primarily at punishing the organisers of hostile passporting and their accomplices”.

3. To enable eligibility for a benefit automatically based on eligibility for a different benefit.
   • 2013, Great Britain: Ministry of Justice, Fee Remissions for the Courts and Tribunals, page 16:

     At present, recipients of Working Tax Credit who are not also in receipt of Child Tax Credit are automatically passported to a full fee remission in some courts and tribunals, and those in receipt of Working Tax Credit and in receipt of child tax credit are passported in others (see annex B).

See also

• ID card
• identification card
• identity card
• portpass
• visa

Further reading

• passport on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• pop stars, popstars, portpass