gradus

¹ American  

[gray-duhs] / ˈgreɪ dəs /

noun

Music.

• graduses
  plural

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

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gradus ² American  

[gray-duhs] / ˈgreɪ dəs /

noun

• graduses
  plural

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.

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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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• graduses
  plural

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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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gradus

The French have grade; It. and Sp., grado; Lat. gradus.

From Notes and Queries, Number 51, October 19, 1850 by Various

Gressus is a step that is being taken; gradus that is taken.

From Döderlein's Hand-book of Latin Synonymes by Ludwig Döderlein

The two phrases undoubtedly point back to a similar gradus, to a similar traditional stock phraseology, and to similar beliefs: that is all.

From Beowulf An Introduction to the Study of the Poem with a Discussion of the Stories of Offa and Finn by R. W. Chambers

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 Hugh Binning

There can be no doubt that it was this passage which induced St. Liguori to conclude that if the gradus propinquior were the first or second, it should be expressed in the petition.

From The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, June 1865 by Various

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