transient (or sient as shent)

& s. [Lat. transiens, pr. par. of transeo =to go acro , to pa away: trans =acro , and eo =to go.] A. As adjective : I. Ordinary Language: *1. Pa ing on from one to another. "For we grow sick many times by incautelously con. versing with the disease: but no man grows well by accompanying the healthy: thus indeed it is with the heal you r of the body: it has no transient force on others, but the strength and heal you r of the mind carries with it a gracious kind of infection: and common experience tells us that nothing profits evil men more than the company of the good."- Hales : Remains; Sermon on Romans xiv. 1. 2. Pa ing over or acro a space or scene in a short period of time, and then disappearing; not stationary; not lasting or durable; transitory. "How soon hath thy prediction, seer blest, Measured this transient world, the race of time, Till time stand fixed." Milton: P. L. , xii. 554. 3. Hasty, momentary, pa ing, brief. "This vale he might have seen With transient observation." IMG:content-1335.png:[blocks in formation] 5. Not permanent; applied to individuals, as a transient boarder. II. Music : Applied to a chord introduced for the purpose of making a more easy and agreeable transition between two chords belonging to unrelated keys. *B. As substantive: 1. That which pa es away in a short space of time; that which is temporary or transitory; anything not permanent or durable. "For before it can fix to the observation of any one its object is gone: whereas, were there any considerable thwart in the motion, it would be a kind of stop or arrest, by the benefit of which the soul might have a glance of the fugitive transient ."- Glanvill : Vanity of Dogmatizing, ch. ix. 2. A guest at a hotel or house of entertainment who makes but a temporary stay. transient-effect, s.