What is "passed midshipman"

Pass \Pass\, v. t.

1. In simple, transitive senses; as:

   1. To go by, beyond, over, through, or the like; to proceed from one side to the other of; as, to pass a house, a stream, a boundary, etc.

   2. Hence: To go from one limit to the other of; to spend; to live through; to have experience of; to undergo; to suffer. ``To pass commodiously this life.''
      --Milton.

      She loved me for the dangers I had passed.
      --Shak.

   3. To go by without noticing; to omit attention to; to take no note of; to disregard.

      Please you that I may pass This doing.
      --Shak.

      I pass their warlike pomp, their proud array.
      --Dryden.

   4. To transcend; to surpass; to excel; to exceed.

      And strive to pass . . . Their native music by her skillful art.
      --Spenser.

      Whose tender power Passes the strength of storms in their most desolate hour.
      --Byron.

   5. To go successfully through, as an examination, trail, test, etc.; to obtain the formal sanction of, as a legislative body; as, he passed his examination; the bill passed the senate.

2. In causative senses: as:

   1. To cause to move or go; to send; to transfer from one person, place, or condition to another; to transmit; to deliver; to hand; to make over; as, the waiter passed bisquit and cheese; the torch was passed from hand to hand.

      I had only time to pass my eye over the medals.
      --Addison.

      Waller passed over five thousand horse and foot by Newbridge.
      --Clarendon.

   2. To cause to pass the lips; to utter; to pronounce; hence, to promise; to pledge; as, to pass sentence.
      --Shak.

      Father, thy word is passed.
      --Milton.

   3. To cause to advance by stages of progress; to carry on with success through an ordeal, examination, or action; specifically, to give legal or official sanction to; to ratify; to enact; to approve as valid and just; as, he passed the bill through the committee; the senate passed the law. (e) To put in circulation; to give currency to; as, to pass counterfeit money. ``Pass the happy news.''
      --Tennyson. (f) To cause to obtain entrance, admission, or conveyance; as, to pass a person into a theater, or over a railroad.

3. To emit from the bowels; to evacuate.

4. (Naut.) To take a turn with (a line, gasket, etc.), as around a sail in furling, and make secure.

5. (Fencing) To make, as a thrust, punto, etc. --Shak. Passed midshipman. See under Midshipman. To pass a dividend, to omit the declaration and payment of a dividend at the time when due. To pass away, to spend; to waste. ``Lest she pass away the flower of her age.'' --Ecclus. xlii. 9. To pass by.

   1. To disregard; to neglect.

   2. To excuse; to spare; to overlook.

      To pass off, to impose fraudulently; to palm off. ``Passed himself off as a bishop.''
      --Macaulay.

      To pass (something) on (some one) or To pass (something) upon (some one), to put upon as a trick or cheat; to palm off. ``She passed the child on her husband for a boy.''
      --Dryden.

      To pass over, to overlook; not to note or resent; as, to pass over an affront.

A passed midshipman, sometimes called as "midshipman, passed", is a term used historically in the 19th century to describe a midshipman who had passed the lieutenant's exam and was eligible for promotion to lieutenant as soon as there was a vacancy in that grade.