Transitive \Tran"si*tive\, a. [L. transitivus: cf. F. transitif. See Transient.]

1. Having the power of making a transit, or passage. [R.]

--Bacon.

2. Effected by transference of signification.

By far the greater part of the transitive or derivative applications of words depend on casual and unaccountable caprices of the feelings or the fancy. --Stewart.

3. (Gram.) Passing over to an object; expressing an action which is not limited to the agent or subject, but which requires an object to complete the sense; as, a transitive verb, for example, he holds the book. -- Tran"si*tive*ly, adv. -- Tran"si*tive*ness, n.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)