gracious 
Therby wende he to be gr 
Chaucer, Miller's Talc, 1. 507. 
a fulle fair Chirche 
t'ttc, Travels, p. 69. 
In dimension, and the shape of nature, 
A gracious person. Shak., T. N., L 5. 
IIow gracious is the mountain at this hour ! 
M. Arnold, Empedocles on Etna. 
Good gracious, goodness gracious, my gracious, 
gradient 
[ML.] Sameasyrnrf- the extremities of a quadruped which are equal 
or nearly so, and adapted for ordinary progres- 
sion on dry land. 
II. w.; pi. gradatories (-riz). In cedes, arch., 
cause to pass by insensible degrees, as from one a series of steps from the cloisters into the 
gradalet, gradalist, 
/(ill, 2. 
r 
ppr. gradating. [< grade- 1 
- 
FT 
.] I. 
come in contact ; but are harmonized either by being sep- 
arated by neutral colours, or by being imperceptibly gra- 
dated and blended into each other. 
Field's Chromatography (ed. J. S. Taylor), p. 56. 
II. intrans. To effect gradation, as of color. 
If you cannot gradate well with pure black lines, you 
will never gradate well with pale ones. 
, , , 
gracious me, or simply gracious, an exclamation of 
surprise, originally a mild oath, good or gracious God. 
= Syn, 1 and 2. Kind, Goodnaiured, etc. (see bcnin- 
nanf); benevolent, condescending, lenient, affable, famil- 
iar, civil, courteous. 
graciously(gra'shus-li), adv. [< ME. graciously ; 
< gracious + -fy 2 .] 1. Favorably; fortunately. 
He hadde wel ybought and graciously, 
Thanked be God, al hool his marchandise. 
Chaucer, Shipman s Tale, 1. 344. "step, degree": see grade 1 .'] 
2. In a gracious or friendly manner ; with kind- step ; by degrees, 
ness or courtesy. gradation (gra-da'shon), n. 
Drydeti. 
The con- 
^diloo l\J ^rtoo UJ mVBUEUMAC UL'glttJH, ilN 1IOII1 Qua 
tint of color, or from one light or dark tone, to church. 
another. graddan (grad'an), n. [< Gael, and Ir. gra- 
We find that in nature the colours are never allowed to 
, an expeditious mode of drying grain for 
the quern by burning the straw, the meal ob- 
tained from such grain, Gael, also snuff hastily 
prepared, < Gael. Ir. grad, quick, hasty, sud- 
den.] 1. Parched corn ; grain burned out of 
the ear. 2. Meal ground in the quern or hand- 
i vvuii p-ue ones """ C Scotcl1 in DOth 86)1868.] 
Riuskin, Elements of Drawing, i. 3. grade 1 (grad), n. [In ME. repr. by greet, q . v . ; 
gradatim (gra-da'tim), adv. [L., < gradus, a 
Gradually ; step by 
His testimony he graciously confirmed. 
graciousness (gra'shus-nes), n. 1 
dition or quality of being gracious; kindness; 
condescension; mercifulness. 
The graciousness and temper of this answer made no 
impression on them ; but they proceeded in their usual 
manner. Clarendon, Great Rebellion, I. 325. 
Offers of graciousness, of cabinet councillor, of chancel- 
lor of the exchequer, were made to right and left. 
Walpole, Letters, II. 473. 
2. Attractiveness; charm; fascination. 
Why lyked me thy youthe and thy fairenesse, 
And of thy tong, the infynyte graciousnesse ? 
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 1675. 
He possessed some science of graciousness and attrac- 
tion which books had not taught. 
Johnson, Rambler, No. 147. 
I am almost prepared to go further, and think that blue- 
grass is a specific for physical beauty and a certain gra. 
ciousness of life. 
C. D. Warner, Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 259. 
grackle (grak'l), n. [< L. graeulus, gracculus, 
a jackdaw, so named from its note ''gra gra" 
(Quintilian). Cf. <ro!c 2 .] 1. Some or any bird 
of the genus Gracula, or of one of the synony- 
mous genera, of the old world. The birds to which 
the name usually attaches are those of the genera Eulaltes 
and Acridothercs in a large sense; but the application is 
vagne and fluctuating. Gracula or Eulabes religiosa is the 
religious grackle, or miua (see cut under Eulabes) ; G. gryl- 
livora or Acridotheres tristis is the Indian paradise-grackle. 
2. An American icterine passerine bird of the 
family Icteridce and chiefly of the subfamily 
Quiscalinai: as, the purple grackle, or crow- 
blackbird, Quiscalus purpureus (see cut under 
crow-blackbird) ; the boat-tailed or Texas graekle, 
Q. major; the rusty grackle, Scolecophagus fer- 
rugineus. 
Our own native blackbirds, the crow blackbird, the rusty 
grackle, the cow-bird, and the red-shouldered starling, are 
not songsters. J. Burroughs, The Century, XIX. 286. 
Also spelled grakle. 
Gracula (grak'u-la), n. [NL., < L. graeulus, 
gracculus, a jackdaw: see grackle.'] A genus 
of birds, (a) A Linnean genus of grackles, insusceptible 
of definition, comprehending sturnoid passerine birds of 
the old world and icterine birds of the new. (b) A Cuvie- 
rian genus of old-world grackles, or sturnoid passerines 
same as Acridotheres of Vieillot. Also called Graeulus. 
<c) A genus of rosy starlings : same as Pastor. Gloger, 1842. 
(a) A genus of old-world sturnoid passerine birds (the same 
as Eulabes of Cuvier), containing the minas, as the re- 
ligious grackle, G. religiosa. See cut under Eulabes. 
Graculidse (gra-ku'li-de), n. pi. [NL., < Gracu- 
[< OF. (also F.) 
gradation = Pr. gradatio = Sp. gradation = 
Pg. gradafSo = It. gradazione, < L. gradatio(n-), 
an ascent by steps, a gradation or climax, < 
gradatus, furnished with steps, < gradus, a step : 
see gradel.] 1. The act of grading, or the 
state of being graded; orderly or continuous 
arrangement or succession ; serial order or se- 
quence according to size, intensity, quality, 
rank, attainment, or the like. 
The Chinians therefore do vse a kinde of gradation in 
aduancing men vnto sundry places of authority. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. ii. 94. 
Preferment goes by letter and affection, 
And not by old gradation, where each second 
Stood heir to the first. Shak., Othello, i. 1. 
Hence 2. Progress from one degree or state 
to another; a regular advance from step to 
step: as, the gradations of an argument. 
Then with no throbs of fiery pain, 
No cold gradations of decay, 
Death broke at once the vital chain, 
And freed his soul the nearest way. 
Johnson, On Robert Levet, at. 9. 
I could not avoid desiring some account of the grada- 
tions that led her to her present wretched situation. 
Goldsmith, Vicar, xxi. 
3. A degree or relative position in any order 
or series. 
The several gradations of the intelligent universe. 
Is. Taylor. 
We see . . . with existing monkeys various gradations 
between a form of progression strictly like that of a quad- 
ruped and that of a biped or man. 
Darwin, Descent of Man, I. 137. 
4. In the fine arts, the regular arrangement or 
subordination to one another of the parts of any 
work of art, so as to produce the best effect, as, 
in painting, the gradual blending of one tint 
into another. 
In the production of gradations of effect in gold the 
Japanese stand alone. Quarterly Rev., CXXVII. 109. 
5. In music, a diatonic ascending or descending 
succession of chords. 6. In philol., the rela- 
tion of the radical vowels in a series of verbal 
forms or derivatives derived with variation 
from the same verbal root, as sing, sang, sung : 
same as ablaut. 
The relation in which the older vowels stand to one an- 
other is called gradation (German ablaut). By the laws 
of gradation, e and o (together with their weakenings i 
and u) are weakenings of a. 
< F. grade, a grade, degree (cf. AS. grad, a 
step), < L. gradus, a step, pace, a step in a 
ladder or stair, a station, position, degree, < 
gradi, pp. gressus, step, walk, go. From L. 
gradus come also E. gradation, gradual, grail 2 , 
etc., and from the orig. verb gradi also ult. E. 
gradient, ingredient, grassant, grassation, ag- 
gress, congress, digress, egress, ingress, progress, 
regress, transgress, etc., grallatory, retrograde, 
plantigrade, etc.] 1. A step, degree, or rank 
in any series or order; relative position or 
standing as regards quantity, quality, office, etc . 
Teachers of every grade, from village schoolmasters to 
tutors in private families. liuckle, Civilization, II. vi. 
Hardly nigher made, 
Tho' scaling slow from grade to grade. 
Tennyson, Two Voices. 
Through color's dreamiest grades 
The yellow sunbeams pause and creep ! 
Lowell, Appledore. 
2. In a road or railroad, the degree of inclina- 
tion from the horizontal ; also, a part of such a 
road inclined from the horizontal. It is expressed 
in degrees, in feet per mile, or as a foot in a certain dis- 
tance. In Great Britain the steepest grade allowed by 
law on a railway is 1 foot in 70 feet that is, an ascent or 
a descent of 1 foot in 70 feet of distance. Also gradient. 
[Grade is most common in American use, and gradient in 
British.] 
3. In zoological classification, any group or se- 
ries of animals, with reference to their earlier 
or later branching off from the stem or stock 
from which they are presumed to have evolved. 
4. An animal, particularly a cow or bull or a 
sheep, resulting from a cross between a parent 
of pure blood and one that is not pure-bred : as, 
an Alderney grade. [Also used as an adjective.] 
At grade, on the same level : as, two railroads crossing 
each other at grade. Grade crossing. See crossing. 
Grade Of a type, in alg., ij Zw, where i is the rank 
(that is, the degree) of the parent quantic, j is the order 
in the coefficients, and w is the weight in respect to the 
selected variable. 
jrade 1 (grad), v. t. ; pret. and pp. graded, ppr. 
grading. [< grade*, .] 1. To sort out or ar- 
range in order according to size, quality, rank, 
degree of advancement, etc. : as, to grade fruit, 
wheat, or sugar; to grade the children of a 
school. 2. To reduce, as the line of a canal, 
road, or railway, to such levels or degrees of 
inclination as may make it suitable for being 
used. 3. To improve the breed of, as common 
stock, by crossing with animals of pure blood. 
Graded school, a school divided into departments 
taught by different teachers, in which the children pass 
from the lower departments to the higher as they advance 
in education. 
ff. Sweet, Anglo-Saxon Reader (3d ed.), p. xviii. grade 2 (grad), a. Same as graith. 
Gradation of color. See color. gradely (grad'li), adv. Same as graitMy. 
lus + -idee.'] A family of cormorants: same as gradational (gra-da'shon-al), a. [< gradation grader (gra'der), n. One who or that which 
Of, pertaining to, or according to gra- 
There is not only a gradational passage from one to 
the other, but they are often combined in the same indi- 
vidual. W. B. Carpenter, Micros., 470. 
Along with generic identity between the two [scientific 
and unscientific knowledge], we have noted five points of 
gradational difference. J. Fiske, Cosmic Philos., i. 38. 
grades, (a) One engaged in grading, as on the line of 
a railroad. 
The camps of the graders on the railroad line. 
The Century, XXIV. 772. 
Phalacrocoracidce. 
Graculinae (grak-u-li'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Gracu- datura. 
la + -iiuB.'} 1. A subfamily of supposed cor- 
vine birds, or birds of the family Sturnidce, con- 
taining various old-world sturnoid passerine 
birds of the genus Gracula, such as the religious 
grackles and their allies. Also called Eiddbc- 
tirue. [Obsolescent.] 2. A subfamily of toti- _ 
palmate birds, containing the cormorants. See Gradatores (grad-a-to'rez), n. pi. [NL., pi. of 
Phalacrocoracida;. gradator, < L. as if 'graddre (assumed from 
Graeulus (grak'u-lus), . [L.: see grackle.'] 1 the P- a - gradatus: see gradation) for gradi, gradient (gra di-ent), a. and . [<L,.gradien(t-)s, 
Same &s Gracula (b). 2. A genus of choughs' walk > 8te P : see Orade*.] In Blyth's system 
Koch, 1816. 3. A genus of cormorants: same ( 1849 )> n order of grallatorial birds, corre- 
as Phalacrocorax. spending to the Cultrirostres of Cuvier; the 
gracyt (gra'si), a. [< grace + -yl.] Pertaining stalkers. 
to or teaching the doctrines of grace ; evan- gradatory (grad a-to-ri), a. and n. [< L. gra- 
datus, furnished with steps, < gradus, a step: 
see grade*."] I. a. 1. Proceeding step " 
gelical. 
A gracy sermon like a Presbyterian. 
Pepys, Diary, April 14, 1661. 
gradal (gra'dal), fl. [< grade* + -al.-] Hav- 
ing reference to extent, measure, or degree. 
[Rare.] 
He conceives that less weight should be given to spore- 
differences of a mere gradal character. 
Tuckennan, Genera Lichenum, p. vi. 
(6) A heavy plow or an earth-scraper used in throwing up 
an embankment or in making a permanent way. (c) A 
grain-separator or -sorter. See separator. 
From the grader the large wheat . . . drops to the top 
rolls of the first break roller mill. 
The Engineer, LXV. 2. 
ppr. of gradi, step, go: see grade 1 .'] I. a. 1. 
Moving by steps; walking; gressorial; ambu- 
latory: opposed to saltatory: said either of ani- 
mals or of their gait: in heraldry, said of a 
tortoise used as a bearing and represented in 
fesse. 
Could this gradatory apostacy [of Macbeth] have been 
shown us, could the noble and useful moral which re- 
sults have been thus forcibly impressed upon our minds, 
without a violation of those senseless unities? 
Seward, Letters, iii. 
2. Suitable or adapted for progression or for- 
ward motion: an epithet formerly applied to 
Amongst those gradient automata, that iron spider . . . 
is more especially remarkable, which . . . did creep up 
and down as if it had been alive. 
Ill>. n'ilkins, Danlalus. ii. 4. 
2. In herpet., walking or running on legs; spe- 
cifically, of or pertaining to the Gradieiitia: 
correlated with salient and serpent. 3. Rising 
or descending by regular degrees of inclination : 
as, the gradient line of a railroad. 
