gradus

¹ American  

[grey-duhs] / ˈgreɪ dəs /

noun

Music.

plural

graduses

1. a work consisting wholly or in part of exercises of increasing difficulty.

---

gradus ² American  

[grey-duhs] / ˈgreɪ dəs /

noun

plural

graduses

1. a dictionary of prosody, especially one that gives word quantities and poetic phrases and that is intended to aid students in the writing of Latin and Greek verse.

---

gradus British  

/ ˈɡreɪdəs /

noun

1. a book of études or other musical exercises arranged in order of increasing difficulty

2. prosody a dictionary or textbook of prosody for use in writing Latin or Greek verse

---

Etymology

Origin of gradus¹

< Latin: grade, step

Origin of gradus²

First recorded in 1755–65; after Gradus ad Parnassum (a step to Parnassus), Latin title of a dictionary of prosody much used in English public schools during the 18th and 19th centuries

Example Sentences

Certain Thomists1193 describe it as a maior radicatio in subiecto, while the majority of theologians hold that it is simply an additio gradus ad gradum.

From Grace, Actual and Habitual A Dogmatic Treatise by Preuss, Arthur

Eng. and Tudor grece, grese, plural of Old Fr. gré, step, from Lat. gradus.

From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Weekley, Ernest

Etsi enim gradus quidam sunt, tamen huc etiam refero baptismum infantum....

From The History of Freedom by Acton, John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, Baron

I could not remember who or what gradus was—whether it was an active noun or a feminine verb or a plural conjunction, or what.

From Tom, Dick and Harry by Reed, Talbot Baines

A humiliating truth, akin to this, is contained in one of the maxims of Hippocrates: Ultimus sanitatis gradus est morbo proximus.

From The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning by Binning, Hugh