[‘ Originally: †a person who may go anywhere (obs.). Subsequently: a thing giving a person the right or opportunity to go anywhere; spec. a key that opens any or many doors, a master key; (occas.) a passport. Freq. in extended use and fig.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈpaspɑːtuː/, ˈpaspətuː, ˌpaspɑːˈtuː, ˌpaspəˈtuː, U.S. /ˌpɑspɑrˈtu/
Forms: 16 *paspartout*, 16–17 *passepartout*, 17 *passpartout*, 17– *passepartout*.
Etymology: < French /passe-partout/ (1564 in Middle French in sense ‘person who may go anywhere’, 1567 in Middle French in sense ‘key that opens many doors’, 1677 in figurative use, 1690 in sense 2a, c/1830 in sense 2b) < /passe- (see pass- comb. form) + partout everywhere (end of the 10th cent. in Old French as per tot; < /par/ through, by (see per prep.) + tout all: see tout adv., n.4, and adj.).
*1.* Originally: †a person who may go anywhere (obs.). Subsequently: a thing giving a person the right or opportunity to go anywhere; spec. a key that opens any or many doors, a master key; (occas.) a passport. Freq. in extended use and fig.
[1655 J. Howell /4th Vol. Familiar Lett./ xix. 52 A travelling warrant is call’d Passeport, wheras the Original is passe par tout.]
1675 W. Wycherley /Country-wife/ i. 6 Now may I..be in short the Pas par tout of the Town.
1680 Dryden /Kind Keeper/ v. i. 55 With this Passe par tout, I will instantly conduct her to my own Chamber.
1700 W. Congreve /Way of World/ iii. i. 38 Why this Wench is the Pass-par-tout, a very Master-Key to every Bodies strong Box.
1710 D. Manley /Mem. Europe/ I. iii. 313 One of my Servants, who is gone with two of Monsieur Le Envoy’s, and his passe par toute to Nova.
1749 Lady M. W. Montagu /Let. to C’tess Bute/ 30 Nov., He opened his door with the passe-partout key.
1760 S. Foote /Minor/ i. 23 My art, sir, is a pass-par-tout. I seldom want employment.
1826 M. Kelly /Reminisc./ I. iv. 71, I must say, that at the time I speak of, to be a native of Great Britain, was a passe partout all over Italy!
1833 C. MacFarlane /Lives Banditti/ (1837) 365 Shortly after the prior went with a passe-partout, and opened the door of his cell.
1918 E. J. Dillon /Eclipse of Russia/ x. 178 He showed them his passe-partout and they set him at liberty at once.
1987 /Sunday Times/ 4 Oct. 64/2 The tale wields the dreamy passe-partout of extreme wealth.
2002 /Sydney Morning Herald/ (Nexis) 23 May (News & Features section) 24 The chambermaids had passe-partouts, but when your key was in the keyhole you were assured privacy.
*2.*
†*a.* An engraved plate or block with the centre cut out for the insertion of a different plate or block, thereby providing a fixed border for different pictures. Also: a fixed typographical border for a printed page. Obs.
Used largely in illustrated books of the 16th and 17th centuries.
N.E.D. (1904) notes ‘So in Fr.; English use doubtful.’
1842 W. T. Brande /Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art/ 899/2 /Passepartout/, in Engraving, a plate or wood block, whose centre part is entirely cut out round the outer part, whereof a border or ornamental design is engraved, serving as a frame to what may be placed in the centre.
1875 E. H. Knight /Pract. Dict. Mech./, /Passe-partout/… This is common in wood-engraving, where an ornamental border may be made to do duty with changing central advertisements or labels.
*b.* A border or mount for a picture made from a piece of card or similar material with the central part cut out to receive the picture. Also (in full passepartout frame): a ready-made frame consisting of two sheets of transparent material (or one sheet with a card backing) held together at the edges.
1857 E. T. Freedley /Philadelphia & its Manuf./ 478 Picture & Looking-glass Frames… [Manufacturer] E. Masse, (Black Oval and Passe Partout,) 201 N. Eighth.
1867 A. D. Whitney /Leslie Goldthwaite/ vi. 120 There were engravings and photographs in passe-partout frames.
1873 T. B. Aldrich /Marjorie Daw/ vii, There is an exquisite ivorytype of Marjorie in passe~partout, on the..mantle-piece.
1889 /Anthony’s Photogr. Bull./ *2* 60 A plain passe-partout greatly assists in ‘setting off’ a picture which otherwise would be but a plain print.
1910 V. Tree /Let./ 13 Nov. in /Castles in Air/ (1926) 54, I have found a manufacturer of passe-partouts for my flower and French costume prints.
1921 E. Ferber /Girls/ iv. 67 In Lottie’s bedroom there still hangs a picture of the two of them, framed in passepartout.
1984 /New Yorker/ 14 May 81/3 Photographs in passe-partout frames.
1995 /N.Y. Rev. Bks./ 23 Mar. 54/3 Shura is busy being a girl..reflected in the looking-glass of passe-partout and blackened mercury.
*c.* A kind of adhesive paper or tape used for framing pictures.
1910–11 /T. Eaton & Co. Catal./ Fall–Winter 144/1 Passepartout binding, black, green, brown, grey, red and white.
1954 /Paper Terminol./ (Spalding & Hodge) 44 /Passe-partout/, a strong embossed paper, gummed on one side and sold in coils about 1 in. wide. It is made in many colours and is used for picture mounting and the binding of lantern slides.
1978 J. Goodman /Last Sentence/ iii. 112 Haphazardly hung photographs, all framed amateurishly with passe-partout.