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

Ut dompnum apostolicum et omnes gradus ecclesiæ in sancta religione conservare digneris.

From Letters to the Clergy On The Lord's Prayer and the Church by Ruskin, John

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.

The only publications which the Company continues to issue are a Latin gradus and almanacks, of which it had at one time the entire monopoly.

From Old and New London Volume I by Thornbury, Walter

Gradual.—A portion of Scripture formerly sung after the Epistle for the Day, from the steps of the Pulpit or Altar, and hence called Gradual, from the Latin gradus, meaning a step.

From The American Church Dictionary and Cyclopedia by Miller, William James

Gressus denotes a step subjectively, whereas gradus objectively.

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