▪ I. degree, n.
(dɪˈgriː)
Forms: 3–6 degre, (3 de-grece, 4–5 þegre, 5 decre, dygre), 6 degrie, 4– degree; also pl. 5 degrece, degreces. See also gree.
[ME. degre, pl. -ez, a. OF. degre, earlier nom. degrez, obl. degret (St. Alexis, 11th c.) = Pr. degrat, degra:—late pop. L. *dēgrad-us, -um, f. de- I. 1 down + grad-us step.]
I. 1. a. A step in an ascent or descent; one of a flight of steps; a step or rung of a ladder. Obs. (exc. in Heraldry).
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 482/44 Huy brouȝhten him up-on an he de-grece þat muche folk him i-seiȝh. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 1021 Þise twelue degres wern brode and stayre, Þe cyte stod abof. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxvii. 276 The Degrees to gon up to his Throne. a 1400–50 Alexander 5636 And xij degreces all of gold for gate vp of lordis. 1483 Caxton Cato A v, He sawe a ladder whyche had ten degrees or stappes. 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 69 There were certain degrees or staires to ascend vnto it. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. i. 26 He then vnto the Ladder turnes his Backe..scorning the base degrees By which he did ascend. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece v. 385 Raised upon half a dozen steps or degrees. 1738 Neal Hist. Purit. IV. 171 At the upper end there was an ascent of two degrees covered with carpets. 1864 Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. vi. 28 When placed upon steps..a Cross is said to be on Degrees. |
b. transf. Something resembling a step; each of a series of things placed one above another like steps; row, tier, shelf, etc.
| 1611 Coryat Crudities 201 Goodly windowes, with three degrees of glasse in them, each containing sixe rowes. 1611 Heywood Gold. Age ii. Wks. 1874 III. 28 In chace we clime the high degrees Of euerie steepie mountaine. 1704 Hearne Duct. Hist. (1714) I. 427 The Ship of excessive Magnitude with 20 Degrees of Oars built for King Hiero. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. II. 37 b, If the Cupola have a cover on the outside made with degrees like steps. 1857 G. J. Wigley Borromeo's Instr. Eccl. Building xv. 46 On the wooden degree on the after part of the altar. |
c. degree-cut in gem-cutting: = trap-cut.
| 1909 in Webster. |
2. fig. a. A step or stage in a process, etc., esp. one in an ascending or descending scale.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 23 Þu maht bi þe degrez of hare blisse icnawen hwuch and bi hu muchel þe an passed þe oðre. 1550 Paget in Froude Hist. Eng. (1881) IV. 502 Which recognizance is the first degree to amendment. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. v. iv. 92 Can you nominate in order now the degrees of the lye? 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 246 The greatest in Spain aspire..to be Viceroy of Naples, where⁓unto they labour to come by many degrees. 1673 Dryden Marr. à la Mode iv. ii, To go unknown is the next degree to going invisible. 1713 Steele Spect. No. 422 ¶1 To say a thing which..brings blushes into his Face, is a degree of Murder. |
b. esp. in phr. by degrees: by successive steps or stages, by little and little, gradually.
| 1563–7 Buchanan Reform. St. Andros Wks. (1892) 12 Thyr regentis sal pas be degreis the hail cours of dialectic, logic, etc. 1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 377 What wound did euer heale but by degrees? 1684 R. H. School Recreat. 31 Fill it by Degrees. 1700 S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. 109 Several of our Company..dropt in by degrees. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 123 ¶5 His Acquaintance with her by degrees grew into Love. a 1721 Prior Henry & Emma 430 Fine by degrees and beautifully less. 1814 Scott Wav. lii, The character of Colonel Talbot dawned upon Edward by degrees. 1853 Lytton My Novel iv. iii, By degrees he began to resign her more and more to Jemima's care and tuition. |
3. a. A ‘step’ in direct line of descent; in pl. the number of such steps, upward or downward, or both upward to a common ancestor and downward from him, determining the proximity of blood of collateral descendants.
prohibited degrees or forbidden degrees: the number of such steps within which marriage is prohibited; degrees of consanguinity and affinity within which marriage is not allowed. In the Civil Law the degree of relationship between collaterals is counted by the number of steps up from one of them to the common ancestor and thence down to the other; according to the Canon Law by the number of steps from the common ancestor to the party more remote from him; uncle and niece are according to the former related in the third, according to the latter in the second degree.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 5603 (Gött.) A man was of his genealogy Fra him bot þo toþer degre. c 1340 Ibid. 9260 (Fairf.) Quasim wil se fra adam þe alde How many degrees to criste is talde. c 1450 Golagros & Gaw. 1044 Na nane of the nynt degre haue noy of my name. 1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 20 Preamb., Beyng of kyn and alied unto the said John..within the second and third degree. 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 38 title, Concerning precontracts and degrees of Consanguinite. c 1550 Cheke Matt. i. 17 Therfoor from David unto Abraham theer weer feorteen degrees. 1604 Canons Ecclesiastical (1852) 48 No person shall marry within the degrees prohibited by the laws of God. 1660 Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. 237 The reasons why the Projectors of the Canon law did forbid to the fourth or to the seventh degree. 1762 Univ. Mag. Mar. 119 She was the daughter of Margaret, the eldest sister of Henry VIII..and..was one degree nearer the royal blood of England than Mary. 1824 Scott St. Ronan's xxxi, I thought..there should be no fighting, as there is no marriage, within the forbidden degrees. 1848 Wharton Law Lex. 406 Marriages between collaterals to the third degree inclusive, according to the mode of computation in the civil law, are prohibited. Cousins german or first cousins, being in the fourth degree of collaterals, may marry. |
b. Used, by extension, of ethnological relationship through more or less remote common ancestry.
| 1799 W. Tooke Russian Emp. II. 104 The nations that..stand in various degrees of affinity with the Samoyedes. |
4. a. A stage or position in the scale of dignity or rank; relative social or official rank, grade, order, estate, or station.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 15 Se þu herre stondest, beo sarre offearet to fallen for se herre degre. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 92 Ful manerly with marchal mad for to sitte, As he watz dere of de-gre, dressed his seete. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 744 Al haue I folk nat set in here degre. ― Clerk's T. 369 He saugh that vnder low degre Was ofte vertu y-hid. c 1420 Sir Amadace (Camden) l, Knyȝte, squiere, ȝoman and knaue, Iche mon in thayre degre. ? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre 1 It was a squyer of lowe degrè That loved the Kings doughter of Hungrè. c 1510 More Picus Wks. 11/2 Holding myself content with my bokes and rest, of a childe haue lerned to liue within my degree. 1548 Hall Chron. 186 Men of al ages & of al degrees to him dayly repaired. a 1645 Heywood Fortune by Land i. ii, Do you think I..would marry under the degree of a Gentlewoman? 1746 W. Harris in Priv. Lett. Ld. Malmesbury I. 44 They marched out..with great formality..every Lord walking according to his degree. 1851 Longfellow Gold. Leg. 140 None of your damsels of high degree! 1864 Burton Scot Abr. I. iii. 125 Regulations..for settling questions between persons of unequal degrees. |
b. A rank or class of persons. ? Obs.
| c 1325 Cursor M. 27715 (Cotton Galba) None.. may fle enuy, Bot pouer caitefs..None has enuy till þat degre. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ix. xxxv, Thenne alle the estates and degrees hyhe and lowe sayd of syr launcelot grete worship. 1577 J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 105 So much practised now a dayes amongst all sorts and degrees. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. xiii. 48 b, Without sparyng anye age or degree. 1622 Sparrow Bk. Com. Prayer (1661) 249 The Bishop..begins,..all the degrees of Ecclesiasticks singing with him. a 1754 Fielding Voy. Lisbon Wks. 1882 VII. 27 This barbarous custom is peculiar to the English, and of them only to the lowest degree. |
† c. of animals, things without life, etc. Obs.
| c 1500 For to serve a Lord in Babees Bk. 370 Thenne the kerver or sewer most asserve every disshe in his degre, after order and course of servise as folowith. 1684 R. H. School Recreat. 8 The Coney is first a Rabbet, and then an Old Coney. Thus much for their Names, Degrees, and Ages..To speak briefly of the proper Names, Degrees, Ages, and Seasons of the several Chases which we Hunt. |
5. Relative condition or state of being; manner, way, wise; relation, respect.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 55 He stombled at a chance, & felle on his kne, Þorgh þe toþer schank he ros, & serued in his degre. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1031 Dido, We..Be now disclaundred, and in swiche degre, No lenger for to lyven I ne kepe. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 963 Bot sone after⁓ward he felle into suche dygre, þat gret sekenesse come his body to. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 36 Coloure þat on with Saunderys, and þat oþer wyth Safroune, and þe þrydde on a-nother degre, so þat þey ben dyuerse. c 1500 Merchant & Son in Halliwell Nugæ Poet. 28 To see yow come in thys degre, nere-hande y lese my wytt. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 106, I say of our Secretorie, that as hee is in one degree in place of a Servant, so is he in another degree in place of a friend. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 258 Studious of Honey, each in his Degree, The youthful Swain, the grave experienc'd Bee. 1867 O. W. Holmes Guardian Angel II. ii. 35 A simple evening party in the smallest village is just as admirable in its degree. |
6. a. A step or stage in intensity or amount; the relative intensity, extent, measure, or amount of a quality, attribute, or action.
(Often closely related to sense 2.)
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 510 Cristene men..shulde have discerved most þank of God in degre possible to hem. 1414 Brampton Penit. Ps. i. 1 How I had synned, and what degre. 1538 Starkey England i. ii. 45 By the reson wherof felycyte admyttyth..degres; and some haue more wele, and som les. 1586 B. Young Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iv. 192 Judge to what degree or stint he ought to delaie it [wine] with water. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. i. v. 61 Misprision in the highest degree. 1652 J. Wright tr. Camus' Nat. Parad., Who knew themselves greater and more beautifull many degrees. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 490 The latter most is ours, Differing but in degree, of kind the same. 1739 Hume Hum. Nat. (1874) I. i. v. 323 When any two objects possess the same quality in common, the degrees, in which they possess it, form a fifth species of relation. 1824 Longfellow in Life (1891) I. v. 55, I have the faculty of abstraction to a wonderful degree. |
b. a degree: a considerable measure or amount of. to a degree (colloq.): to an undefined, but considerable or serious, extent; extremely, seriously. to the last degree: to the utmost measure.
| 1639 T. Brugis tr. Camus' Moral Relat. 165 Whose fire was come to the last degree of it's violence. 1665 Dryden Indian Emp. ii. iv, Thou mak'st me jealous to the last degree. 1721 D'Urfey New Opera's, etc. 251 The Cadiz, raging to degree. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 249 Let any one walk in a cold Air, so that his Feet be cold to a Degree. 1775 Sheridan Rivals ii. i, Assuredly, sir, your father is wrath to a degree. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. VII. xvii. ii. 18 A Czarina obstinate to a degree; would not consent. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 13 Few philosophers will deny that a degree of pleasure attends eating and drinking. 1888 Spectator 30 June 878 His argument..is far-fetched to the last degree. |
† c. Applied in the natural philosophy of the Middle Ages to the successive stages of intensity of the elementary qualities of bodies (heat and cold, moisture and dryness): see quots. Obs.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 11 Þilke þing þat we seie is hoot in þe firste degree þat is I-heet of kyndely heete þat is in oure bodies. 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. lxxxiii. 261 Rue is hoate and dry in the thirde degree. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The degrees usually allowed are four, answering to the number of the peripatetic elements. In the school philosophy, the same qualities are divided into eight..Fire was held hot in the eighth degree, and dry in the fourth degree. |
d. Crim. Law. Relative measure of criminality, as in principal in the first, or second, degree: see quots. In U.S. Law, A distinctive grade of crime (with different maximum punishments), as ‘murder in the first degree’, or ‘second degree’.
| a 1676 Hale Pleas of Crown (1736) I. 613 Those, who did actually commit the very fact of treason, should be first tried before those, that are principals in the second degree. Ibid. 615 By what hath been formerly deliverd, principals are in two kinds, principals in the first degree, which actually commit the offense, principals in the second degree, which are present, aiding, and abetting of the fact to be done. 1797 Jacob's Law Dict. s.v. Accessary, A man may be a principal in an offence in two degrees..he must be certainly guilty, either as principal or accessary..and if principal, then in the first degree, for there is no..superior in the guilt, whom he could aid, abet, or assist. 1821 Jefferson Autob. Writings 1892 I. 65 They introduced [1796] the new terms of murder in the 1st and 2d degree. 1877 J. F. Stephen Digest Crim. Law art. 35 Whoever actually commits or takes part in the actual commission of a crime is a principal in the first degree, whether he is on the spot when the crime is committed or not. |
e. third degree: see third degree.
II. Specific and technical senses.
7. A stage of proficiency in an art, craft, or course of study: a. esp. An academical rank or distinction conferred by a university or college as a mark of proficiency in scholarship; also (honorary degree) as a recognition of distinction, or a tribute of honour. Also in legal use.
Originally used of the preliminary steps to the Mastership or Doctorate, i.e. the Bachelorship and License; afterwards of the Mastership also. (As to the origin, see quot. 1794.)
| [1284 Chart. Univ. Paris. I. i. No. 515 Determinatio [i.e. the Disputation for B.A.] est unus honorabilis gradus attingendi magisterium.] c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 427 Degre takun in scole makiþ goddis word more acceptable, and þe puple trowiþ betere þerto whanne it is seyd of a maistir. 1481 Caxton Myrr. i. v. 26 Without hauyng the degree and name of maistre. 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 42 That I shuld..go well enough forward in lerninge but never take any high degree in schooles. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 104. 1614 Bp. Hall Recoll. Treat. 772 You have twice kneeled to our Vice-Chauncellour, when you were admitted to your degree. 1708 Hearne Collect. 17 June, This day Mr. Carter..accumulated y⊇ Degrees of Bach. and Doct. of Divinity. a 1794 Gibbon Autobiog. 29 The use of academical degrees, as old as the thirteenth century, is visibly borrowed from the mechanic corporations: in which an apprentice, after serving his time, obtains a testimonial of his skill, and a licence to practice his trade and mystery. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xi, A medal..which intimated, in the name of some court or guild of minstrels, the degree she had taken in the Gay or Joyous Science. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Org. v. 128 To pass through the whole of this course..whose successive steps were called degrees (gradus), required at least twenty years. 1880 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 87/2 Each inn confers this status or degree [sc. of barrister] on its own members only. 1885 Law Jrnl. 13 June 364/1 That his Royal Highness..be called to the degree of the Utter Bar. 1959 Jowitt Dict. Eng. Law 601/2 Degree,..the state of a person, as to be a barrister-at-law, or a Master of Arts of a University. |
b. Freemasonry. Each of the steps of proficiency in the order, conferring successively higher rank on the initiated, as the first or ‘entered apprentice degree’, the second or ‘fellow craft degree’, the third or ‘degree of master mason’.
There are 33 degrees recognized by the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, besides many others considered more or less irregular. Some bodies recognize only three degrees.
| c 1430 Freemasonry 727 To the nexte degre loke wysly, To do hem reverans by and by. 1875 Fort Early Hist. Freemasonry, A society comprising three degrees of laborers,—masters, fellows, and apprentices. 1881 Text-bk. Freemasonry 27 There are several degrees in Freemasonry with peculiar secrets restricted to each. |
8. Gram. Each of the three stages (positive, comparative, superlative) in the comparison of an adjective or adverb.
[A technical application of sense 6.]
| 1460–70 Bk. Quintessence 22 Þe feuere agu is þe posityue degree, and in þe superlatyue degree. 1530 Palsgr. Introd. 28 Adjectyves have thre degrees of comparation. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. vi. §3 If..any were mala, pejor, pessima, bad in the superlative degree, 'tis a whore. 1707 J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 145 He was the Superlative Degree of Avarice. 1855 Forbes Hind{uacu}stán{iacu} Gram. (1868) 34 The adjectives in Hind{uacu}stán{iacu} have no regular degrees of comparison. 1888 Pall Mall G. 31 Oct. 4/1 There are three degrees of comparison in Empire, as in grammar. The positive is the chartered company; the comparative is a protectorate; the superlative, annexation. |
9. a. Geom. (Astron., Geog., etc.) A unit of measurement of angles or circular arcs, being an angle equal to the 90th part of a right angle, or an arc equal to the 360th part of the circumference of a circle (which subtends this angle at the centre).
The sign for degrees is °, thus 45° = forty-five degrees.
This division of the circle is very ancient, and appears to have been originally applied to the circle of the Zodiac, a degree being the stage or distance travelled by the sun each day according to ancient Babylonian and Egyptian computation, just as a sign represented the space passed through in a month.
| c 1386 Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 378 The yonge sonne That in the Ram is foure degrees vp ronne. c 1391 ― Astrol. i. §6 The entring of the first degree in which the sonne arisith. Ibid. ii. §22 I proue it thus by the latitude of Oxenford..the heyhte of owre pool Artik fro owre north Orisonte is 51 degrees and 50 Minutes. 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle v. i. (1859) 70 In the hole compas of the spyere ben of such degrees thre honderd and syxty. 1527 in Arber 1st 3 Eng. Bks. Amer. Pref. p. xiv, We ranne in our course to the Northward, till we came into 53 degrees..and then we cast about to the Southward, and..came into 52 degrees. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 58 Cosmographers do place the first degre of Longitude in the West fortunate Ilandes. 1590 Webbe Trav. (1868) 25 Being thus in the land of prester Iohn, I trauelled within Eighteene degrees of y⊇ Sun, euery degree being in distance three score miles. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 471 A Land full of grass..pleasantly green, where the Pole is elevated eighty degrees. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. ii. 26 In the latitude of 27 degrees 5 minutes N. 1823 H. J. Brooke Introd. Crystallogr. 2 The angle at which they meet is said to measure 90°, and is termed a right angle. 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. i. i. 11 Transmitting a pencil of eighteen degrees. |
b. transf. A position on the earth's surface or the celestial sphere, as measured by degrees (chiefly of latitude).
| 1647 Cowley Mistress, Parting iii, The men of Learning comfort me; And say I'm in a warm Degree. 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 174 He knew the Seat of Paradise, Could tell in what Degree it lies. 1726 Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 175 The next Day we discover'd the Magellan Clouds..These Clouds are always seen in the same Degree, and the same orbicular Form. |
10. Thermometry. a. A unit of temperature, varying according to the scale employed. b. Each of the marks denoting degrees of temperature on the scale of a thermometer, or the interval between two successive marks.
The interval between the freezing and boiling points of water is divided in Fahrenheit's scale into 180 degrees, in the Centigrade into 100, in Réaumur's into 80. The symbol ° is used in this sense as in prec.; thus 32° Fahr. means ‘thirty-two degrees of Fahrenheit's scale’.
| 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Thermometer, Various methods have been proposed..for finding a fixed point, or degree of heat and cold, from which to account the other degrees, and adjust the scale. 1796 Hutton Math. Dict. s.v. Thermometer, The distance between these two points he divided into 600 equal parts or degrees; and by trials he found at the freezing point..that the mercury stood at 32 of these divisions. 1812 Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 70 Raised from the degree of freezing to that of boiling water. 1877 Watts Dict. Chem. V. 762 s.v. Thermometer, Thermometers intended to show the 1/10 of a degree (Fahr.), should have degrees not less than 1/10 inch in length. Ibid. 763 For meteorological use, the degrees should still be etched on the glass, but may be repeated on the metal scale. |
c. degree day, a unit used to determine the heating requirements of buildings (see quots.). Also attrib.
| 1930 Engineering 11 July 34/1 The term ‘degree-day’ is used in the United States to denote the difference in external temperature between the daily mean and 65° F; we have no similar recognized term here. 1958 Ibid. 14 Mar. 322/3 The conception of Degree Days as a means of exercising control over heating installations and of forecasting fuel requirements is by no means a new one in this country. The London and Home Counties Coke Association started the first Degree Day Service in 1938. 1964 J. S. Scott Dict. Build. 94 Degree-day value, a figure which describes the relative coldness of a site. It is based on the number of days yearly by which the average temperature falls below 60° F. in Britain... In USA..the temperature chosen for degree-day charts is 65° F. |
11. Mus. a. The interval between any note of a scale (esp. the diatonic scale) and the next note. b. Each of the successive notes forming the scale. c. Each of the successive lines and spaces on the stave, which denote the position of the notes; the interval between two of these.
| [1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 12 Those which we now call Moodes, they tearmid degree of Musicke.] 1674 Playford Skill Mus. iii. 40 The parts part asunder, the one by degree, the other by leap. 1684 R. H. School Recreat. 115 The Five Lines and Spaces..are useful, as Steps or Gradations whereon the Degrees of Sound are to be expressed. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The musical degrees are three; the greater tone, the lesser tone, and the semi-tone. Ibid., Conjoint degrees, two notes which immediately follow each other in the order of the scale. 1880 Stainer Composition iii, All the degrees of a scale can be harmonized by chords formed by combining sounds of that scale. 1880 C. H. H. Parry in Grove Dict. Mus. s.v., The interval of a second is one degree, the interval of a third two degrees, and so on. |
† 12. Arith. A group of three figures taken together in numeration. Obs.
| 1674 S. Jeake Arith. (1696) 15 These places are distinguished into Degrees and Periods. Degrees are three; Once, Ten times, a Hundred times. a 1677 Cocker's Arith. (1688) i. §9 A degree consists of three figures, viz. of three places comprehending Units, Tens, and Hundreds, so 365 is a degree. [Hence in Johnson, etc.] |
13. Alg. The rank of an equation or expression as determined by the highest power of the unknown or variable quantity, or the highest dimensions of the terms, which it contains.
Thus x3 + x2, x2y + xy, are both expressions of the third degree; the terms x3 and x2y being each of 3 dimensions. In algebraic geometry, the degree of a curve or surface is that of the equation expressing it. † parodic degree: see quot. 1730.
| 1730–6 Bailey (folio), Parodic Degree (in Algebra) is the index or exponent of any power; so in numbers, 1. is the parodick degree, or exponent of the root or side; 2. of the square, 3. of the cube, etc. 1796 Hutton Math. Dict. s.v., Equations.. are said to be of such a degree according to the highest power of the unknown quantity. 1870 Todhunter Algebra ix. §166 An equation of the first degree cannot have more than one root. 1872 B. Williamson Diff. Calc. xiv. §204 When the lowest terms in the equation of a curve are of the second degree, the origin is a double point. Ibid. §207 The curves considered in this Article are called parabolas of the third degree. |
14. degree of freedom: see freedom 10
15. Comb. (in sense 7 a), as degree-day (see also 10 c), degree factory, degree-fee, degree-level; degree-conferring, degree-granting adjs.; degree-giving vbl. n. and adj.
| 1903 Westm. Gaz. 11 July 2/2 The *degree-conferring Universities of the United Kingdom. 1906 Daily Chron. 27 July 6/7 To make the Nottingham University College a degree-conferring University. |
| 1832 J. Romilly Diary 9 May (1967) 12 A *Degree day: 2 hon. M.A., 6 M.A. & 17 B.A. 1867 G. M. Hopkins Let. to Bridges 5 Dec. (1935) 20 Would it be possible for you to see me on yr. way home? Certainly it would if the degree day does not fall too late. 1900 G. Swift Somerley 164 When the dance and degree-day were over. |
| 1886 W. Hooper Sketches fr. Academic Life 51 It [an M.A. degree] had been obtained from one of these *degree factories. |
| 1897 Daily News 23 Apr. 7/4 Many of the *Degree-Fees have..been raised. |
| 1888 Bryce Amer. Commonw. III. vi. cii. 462 They complain of the multiplication of *degree-giving bodies. 1905 W. James Mem. & Stud. (1911) v. 102 ‘Civilization’, with its herding and branding, licensing and degree-giving. 1946 Nature 19 Oct. 531/1 The difficulties..have led Lord Cherwell to propose the transfer of engineering training from the universities to degree-giving institutes of technology. |
| 1895 Westm. Gaz. 27 July 5/3 It..had never been adequately encouraged by *degree-granting Universities. 1896 Daily News 20 Feb. 5/4 The larger degree-granting institutions. 1967 Times 28 Feb. (Canada Suppl.) 36 Some 60 degree-granting universities and colleges in Canada. |
| 1956 Nature 18 Feb. 296/2 A national council to control the award of..*degree-level qualification. |
▪ II. degree, v.
(dɪˈgriː)
[f. degree n.]
† 1. trans. To advance by degrees; to lead or bring on step by step. Obs.
| 1614 T. Adams Devil's Banquet 168 Thus is the soules death degreed up. Sin gathers strength by custom, and creeps like some contagious disease..from joint to joint. 1627–77 Feltham Resolves i. iii. 4, I like that Love, which by a soft ascension, does degree itself in the soul. 1636 Heywood Challenge ii. Wks. 1874 V. 27 Degree thy tortures, like an angry tempest, Rise calmely first, and keepe thy worst rage last. a 1670 Hacket Abp. Williams ii. 189 (D.), I will degree this noxious neutrality one peg higher. |
† b. absol. Obs. rare.
| 1638 Heywood London's Gate Wks. 1874 V. 273 There's not a stone that's laid in such foundation But is a step degreeing to salvation. |
2. To confer a degree upon. nonce-use.
| [1560: see degreed.] 1865 Mrs. Whitney Gayworthys ii. (1879) 23 A divine..degreed in due course as Doctor Divinitatis. 1891 Sat. Rev. 22 Aug. 208 The Demographers..had the good fortune to be welcomed and degreed at Cambridge. |