DEGREES
Noun
degrees
plural of degree
Source: Wiktionary
DEGREE
De*gree", n. Etym: [F. degrƩ, OF. degret, fr. LL. degradare. See
Degrade.]
1. A step, stair, or staircase. [Obs.]
By ladders, or else by degree. Rom. of R.
2. One of a series of progressive steps upward or downward, in
quality, rank, acquirement, and the like; a stage in progression;
grade; gradation; as, degrees of vice and virtue; to advance by slow
degrees; degree of comparison.
3. The point or step of progression to which a person has arrived;
rank or station in life; position. "A dame of high degree." Dryden.
"A knight is your degree." Shak. "Lord or lady of high degree."
Lowell.
4. Measure of advancement; quality; extent; as, tastes differ in kind
as well as in degree.
The degree of excellence which proclaims genius, is different in
different times and different places. Sir. J. Reynolds.
5. Grade or rank to which scholars are admitted by a college or
university, in recognition of their attainments; as, the degree of
bachelor of arts, master, doctor, etc.
Note: In the United States diplomas are usually given as the evidence
of a degree conferred. In the humanities the first degree is that of
bachelor of arts (B. A. or A. B.); the second that of master of arts
(M. A. or A. M.). The degree of bachelor (of arts, science, divinity,
law, etc.) is conferred upon those who complete a prescribed course
of undergraduate study. The first degree in medicine is that of
doctor of medicine (M. D.). The degrees of master and doctor are
sometimes conferred, in course, upon those who have completed certain
prescribed postgraduate studies, as doctor of philosophy (Ph. D.);
but more frequently the degree of doctor is conferred as a
complimentary recognition of eminent services in science or letters,
or for public services or distinction (as doctor of laws (LL. D.) or
doctor of divinity (D. D.), when they are called honorary degrees.
The youth attained his bachelor's degree, and left the university.
Macaulay.
5. (Genealogy)
Definition: A certain distance or remove in the line of descent,
determining the proximity of blood; one remove in the chain of
relationship; as, a relation in the third or fourth degree.
In the 11th century an opinion began to gain ground in Italy, that
third cousins might marry, being in the seventh degree according to
the civil law. Hallam.
7. (Arith.)
Definition: Three figures taken together in numeration; thus, 140 is one
degree, 222,140 two degrees.
8. (Algebra)
Definition: State as indicated by sum of exponents; more particularly, the
degree of a term is indicated by the sum of the exponents of its
literal factors; thus, a2b2c is a term of the sixth degree. The
degree of a power, or radical, is denoted by its index, that of an
equation by the greatest sum of the exponents of the unknown
quantities in any term; thus, ax4 + bx2 = c, and mx2y2 + nyx = p, are
both equations of the fourth degree.
9. (Trig.)
Definition: A 360th part of the circumference of a circle, which part is
taken as the principal unit of measure for arcs and angles. The
degree is divided into 60 minutes and the minute into 60 seconds.
10. A division, space, or interval, marked on a mathematical or other
instrument, as on a thermometer.
11. (Mus.)
Definition: A line or space of the staff.
Note: The short lines and their spaces are added degrees.
Accumulation of degrees. (Eng. Univ.) See under Accumulation.
– By degrees, step by step; by little and little; by moderate
advances. "I 'll leave by degrees." Shak.
– Degree of a curve or surface (Geom.), the number which expresses
the degree of the equation of the curve or surface in rectilinear
coƶrdinates. A straight line will, in general, meet the curve or
surface in a number of points equal to the degree of the curve or
surface and no more.
– Degree of latitude (Geog.), on the earth, the distance on a
meridian between two parallels of latitude whose latitudes differ
from each other by one degree. This distance is not the same on
different parts of a meridian, on account of the flattened figure of
the earth, being 68.702 statute miles at the equator, and 69.396 at
the poles.
– Degree of longitude, the distance on a parallel of latitude
between two meridians that make an angle of one degree with each
other at the poles -- a distance which varies as the cosine of the
latitude, being at the equator 69.16 statute miles.
– To a degree, to an extreme; exceedingly; as, mendacious to a
degree.
It has been said that Scotsmen . . . are . . . grave to a degree on
occasions when races more favored by nature are gladsome to excess.
Prof. Wilson.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition