gradus

¹ American  

[grey-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  

[grey-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

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

See Examples For:

gradus

On the 26th of November, in a half-desperate, half-despondent temper of mind, I commenced the long-descending gradus which I had rapidly ascended so many years before.

From The Opium Habit by Day, Horace B.

Rising from the top of a low wall or balcony that stood on the ground many feet inward, was the gradus or slope of seats, which extended half-way up the high surrounding shell.

From The Mother of St. Nicholas A Story of Duty and Peril by Balfour, Grant

"A gradus ad Parnassum a wanting," said Mr. Cibber.

From Peg Woffington by Reade, Charles

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 Chambers, R. W.

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