passport

noun

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.”

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

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

2. (broadly, 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.”

   “Thus like the ſad preſaging Rauen that tolls / The ſick mans paſſeport in her hollovv beake, / And in the ſhadovv of the ſilent night / Doth ſhake contagion from her ſable vvings; / Vex'd and tormented runnes poore Barabas / VVith fatall curſes tovvards theſe Chriſtians.”

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

1. To regulate how money given to a local authority must be spent.

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

   “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.

   “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.”

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

   “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.

   “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).”