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

Inflected Forms

noun

• 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

Et specialiter quod in negotiis quae ad gratias et gradus spectant non impedietis dignos, nec indignos promovebitis.

From The Oxford Degree Ceremony by Wells, Joseph

The Bondavara Railway was the gradus ad Parnassum.

From Black Diamonds by Jókai, Mór

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

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

Noli altum sapere, hoc veteres voluere magistri, Ne retrahat lassos alta ruina gradus.

From The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, Volume II (of 2) by Crashaw, Richard

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