adv. [Fr.]
1. In passing; by the way; in the course of a narrative, etc.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., Disc. Medit. (1669), 60. Having given you this Advertisement, en passant, we may now proceed.
1720. Welton, Suffer. Son of God, I. viii. 161–2. We Ought not to Receive them but en Passant, and by the way.
1838. S. Lover, Handy Andy, iii. His pursuer … gave a back-handed slap at the window-bottles, en passant.
1860. Adler, Fauriel’s Prov. Poetry, viii. 161. It is sufficient … to indicate … en passant the existence of the histories in question.
2. Chess. To take (a pawn) en passant: to take with one of your own pawns an adversary’s pawn that has been moved forward two squares, passing over the square on which it would by the general rule have been liable to capture by your pawn.
