"send over, onward, or along," c. 1400, from Latin transmittere "send across, cause to go across, transfer, pass on," from trans "across, beyond" (see trans-) + mittere "to release, let go; send, throw" (see mission). Related: Transmitted; transmitting.

"act of transmitting; state of being transmitted," 1786, from transmit + -ance.

1727, "one who transmits," agent noun from transmit. In telegraphy from 1844. The meaning "apparatus for transmitting radio signals" is from 1934.

"transmit further on or back again," 1868, from re- "back, again" + transmit (v.). Related: Retransmitted; retransmitting.

 "conveyance from one place to another," 1724, from transmit + -al (2). Originally interchangeable with transmission, but that word now has a second sense.

"capable of being transmitted," in any sense, 1640s, from Latin transmiss-, stem of transmittere "send across, carry over" (see transmit) + -ible. A parallel formation is transmittible, which might be based on transmit (v.). Related: Transmissibility.

1610s, "conveyance from one place to another," from Latin transmissionem (nominative transmissio) "a sending over or across, passage," noun of action from past-participle stem of transmittere "send over or across" (see transmit). The meaning "part of a motor vehicle that regulates power from the engine to the axle" is recorded from 1894.

1520s, "to impart (information, etc.); to give or transmit (a quality, feeling, etc.) to another," from Latin communicatus, past participle of communicare "to share, communicate, impart, inform," literally "to make common," related to communis "common, public, general" (see common (adj.)). Meaning "to share, transmit" (diseases, etc.) is from 1530s. Intransitive sense, of rooms, etc., "to open into each other" is from 1731. Related: Communicated; communicating.

"transmit by radio," 1916, from radio (n.). Related: Radioed; radioing. An earlier verb in the same sense was marconi (1908), from the name of Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), pioneer of wireless telegraphy.

1823, in Suffolk dialect, "a cart," especially one with wheels flanged for running on a track (1858), probably from troll (v.) in the sense of "to roll." Sense transferred to "device used to transmit electric current to streetcars, consisting of a trolley wheel which makes contact with the overhead wires" (1888), then "streetcar drawing power by a trolley" (1891), which probably is short for trolley-car, attested from 1889.